Objective <p>To explore the differences of the risk of complications, functional rehabilitation, and hospitalization expenses between the ischemic stroke patients cared by their families or orderlies.</p> Methods <p>This was a retrospective cohort study. We collected a total of 443 patients with ischemic stroke. According to the different types of nursing staff, they were divided into family caregiving group and orderly caregiving group. Propensity Score Weighting (PSW) method was used to balance the baseline; The weighted logistic regression model was used to analyze the risk of pulmonary, urinary tract infection, diarrhea, falls, and pressure ulcer in different groups of patients. The functional rehabilitation indicators, including the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score, Barthel score, muscle strength grade and hospitalization cost before discharge, were compared between the two groups by means of independent samples <i>t</i> test or Wilcoxon rank sum test, depending on the distribution characteristics of the data. <i>P</i> value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.</p> Results <p>①There were no significant differences in the incidence of pulmonary, urinary tract infection, diarrhea and fall between the two groups. The family caregiving group had a lower risk of developing pressure ulcer. ②The proportion of patients with upper limb muscle strength of grade 3 or above in the family caregiving group (90.60%) was higher than that in the orderly caregiving group (82.26%). ③The hospitalization expenses of the family caregiving group, and the average daily hospitalization expenses were higher than those of the orderly caregiving group, respectively.</p> Conclusion <p>Family caregiving is a protective factor for pressure ulcer in ischemic stroke patients.The patients in the family caregiving group had better upper limb muscle strength.</p>