Circadian patterns in coronary disease: the mournfulness of morning.

A circadian pattern is present for all of the manifestations of coronary artery disease discussed in this review; typical angina, variant angina, myocardial infarction and sudden cardiac death. The peak incidence for typical angina is from 06:00 to noon, and earlier, from midnight to 09:00 in variant angina. The peak incidence of myocardial infarction and sudden cardiac death are the same as for typical angina, even though different mechanisms are involved.