AIM: To analyze the systemic factors including stroke history related to the retinal artery occlusion (RAO). METHODS: Patients with an exact diagnosis of RAO in the medical database of the Kailuan Corporation were identified as the case group. Five patients without RAO were added for each case from the Kailuan Study and matched for sex and age (age±2) as the control group. The Kailuan Study is a general population-based cohort study in northern China, in which a total of 101 510 individuals (81 110 men) aged 18-98y were recruited to participate in the study. And the participants were bi-annually re-examined. The database of both groups was from Kailuan study of 2010 cohort. All the information, including the demographic characteristics, lifestyle behaviors, medical comorbidities, medical history, family medical history, drug usage, anthropometric measurements, blood pressure measurement, blood sample laboratory assessment, urine tests, and other physical examinations were all collected. A retrospective nested case-control method was used for this study. Conditional multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factors with SPSS 13.0 software and SAS 9.3 software. RESULTS: A total of 45 patients were included as the case group, and the control group included 225 patients. In the case group, 28 patients (62.2%) had a central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO), and 17 patients (37.8%) had a branch retinal artery occlusion (BRAO). A total of 18 patients (40.0%) had a stroke before the RAO (mean 4.04±3.88y before the RAO), and 31 patients (81.6%) had infarctions or malacia identified by the cranial computed tomography (CT) scans. The basal ganglia and centrum semiovale were the most frequently involved regions. Plaques in the common carotid artery were present in 32 patients (88.9%). Conditional multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the RAO was found to be associated with the history of stroke (P=0.0023, OR=28.794; 95%CI: 3.322-249.586). CONCLUSION: A history of stroke can significantly increase the incidence of RAO. Exists of plaque in the carotid artery is mean more than its severe stenosis for RAO.