Time of symptom onset of eight common medical emergencies

Specific time periods of the day may be associated with different frequencies of symptom onset in different diseases. The purpose of the current study was to examine times of symptom onset in eight commonly encountered emergent conditions--cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, transient ischemic attacks, cardiac dysrhythmias, angina pectoris, acute myocardial infarction, gastrointestinal bleeding, and acute asthma. Data from 4554 cases were retrospectively reviewed. Symptom onset frequency curve diagrams were derived, illustrating peak hours of symptom presentation for each of the eight emergent conditions. Hormonal and metabolic factors that may be related to diurnal variations in symptom onset of the eight diseases are briefly discussed.