[Retinal artery occlusion in Germany: results from the oregis registry]

The oregis registry is Germany's first nationwide platform for real-world ophthalmological data. Launched as a multicenter, hypothesis-free registry by the German Society of Ophthalmology (DOG), oregis continuously collects treatment data from outpatient practices and clinics. With currently more than 2.5 million patients, oregis offers an unprecedented database for ophthalmological health research. Despite its clinical relevance, epidemiological and real-world data on the treatment of retinal artery occlusion (RAO) remain limited and based on small cohorts. This leads to uncertainties regarding patient characteristics, risk profiles and treatment strategies. oregis offers a unique opportunity to review RAO case data in a large, unselected population. The aim of this study was therefore to provide a descriptive overview of RAO patients and to demonstrate the potential of oregis for ophthalmological care.

A search was performed for patients diagnosed with RAO between 2010 and 2025. The data retrieved from participating centers were anonymized.

In this study 832 patients were identified of which two thirds were male and one third female. The mean age was 70 years. At initial presentation 33% of patients showed a decimal best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) > 0.5, 30% exhibited BCVA levels of hand motion, light perception or worse. At follow-up the overall distribution of visual function remained largely unchanged.

The results confirm previously described epidemiological patterns of RAO, while simultaneously identifying areas in which the quality of documentation requires improvement. Furthermore, this study also underscores the potential of oregis as it enables the generation of big data by compiling large patient cohorts and longitudinal long-term information.