title: Circadian incidence of non-inflammatory retinal artery occlusions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Myocardial infarction and stroke tend to occur in the morning. We were interested in discovering when the onset of visual loss occurred in patients with retinal artery occlusion (RAO). Assuming that the therapeutic time slot is about 2 to 6 hours, a cumulated incidence during the night might have therapeutic implications.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively evaluated the data of 266 patients (175 male and 91 female patients) with non-inflammatory RAO: 211 patients with central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO), 36 patients with branch retinal artery occlusion (BRAO), and 19 patients with hemi-central retinal artery occlusion (hemi-CRAO).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nocturnal visual loss occurred in 25 patients (9.4%). Ocular deterioration during the day was recorded in 173 patients (65.1%). Visual loss at waking was recorded in 59 patients (22.2%). In most patients with short-term latency (<or= 6 hours), RAO also occurred in the daytime (62%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Visual loss due to ocular arterial occlusions can occur at any time. Visual deterioration has been recorded more often during the day than during the night.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schumacher
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Feltgen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015356:Retinal Artery Occlusion / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult