A follow-up study was performed to determine the general prognosis for health and life in 86 patients with retinal artery occlusion or ophthalmoscopically observed retinal cholesterol emboli, not subjected to surgery. Survivorship rates and incidence of subsequent cerebrovascular disease were calculated and compared to expected survivorship rate of an age-and sex-matched population. Results were as follows: the patient group with retinal stroke as a whole showed a statistically significant diminished survivorship rate from the third year onward; patients with retinal occlusions without visible emboli had a survivorship rate comparable to the matched control; but patients with visible emboli demonstrated a strikingly diminished survivorship rate. In the study group, the combined time corrected annual stroke mortality was 1,695 per 100,000 (four to five times greater than expected), but the largest single cause of death was cardiovascular disease.