characteristics of patients with central retinal artery occlusion in an iranian tertiary eye center

purpose: to evaluate the etiologic and epidemiologic findings in central retinal artery occlusion (crao) patients in a tertiary eye center in tehran, iran. methods: all patients with crao refered to the emergency department of farabi hospital during 2001-2002 were enrolled in the study. all patients received routine treatment and were followed for 3 months. cardiology consult was done for all patients. results: from 36 patients, 6 patients had cilioretinal artery sparing. age of patients ranged from 18 to 80 years (56.3±15.7). interval from onset of symptoms to admission was between 4-48 (20±8) hours. prevalence of nvi, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus was 6.6%, 36.7%, and 16.7%, respectively. conclusion: the lower mean age in our patients compared to other studies is probably due to longer duration of life in western countries or decreasing atherosclerosis age in our country. the low prevalence of hypertension and diabetes mellitus in our patients require further evaluation in great scale studies. the low prevalence of nvi in our study may be due to earlier presentation of our patients or special characteristics of this disease in our country.