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. 2020 May;27(5):887-893.
doi: 10.1111/ene.14163. Epub 2020 Feb 26.

Time trends, frequency, characteristics and prognosis of short-duration transient global amnesia

M Romoli  1   2   3 , M A Tuna  1 , L Li  1 , M Paciaroni  4 , D Giannandrea  5 , F Tordo Caprioli  2 , A Lotti  2 , P Eusebi  2 , M G Mosconi  4 , M Pellizzaro Venti  4   6 , N Salvadori  2 , A Gili  7 , S Ricci  5 , F Stracci  7 , P Sarchielli  2 , L Parnetti  2 , P M Rothwell #  1 , P Calabresi #  2   8
Affiliations

Time trends, frequency, characteristics and prognosis of short-duration transient global amnesia

M Romoli et al. Eur J Neurol. 2020 May.

Abstract

Background and purpose: Transient global amnesia (TGA) is characterized by a sudden onset of anterograde amnesia lasting up to 24 h. One major differential for TGA is transient epileptic amnesia, which typically lasts < 1 h. However, TGA can also be short in duration and little is known about the time trends, characteristics and prognosis of TGA cases lasting < 1 h.

Methods: We compared the clinical features of TGA ascertained in two independent cohort studies in Oxfordshire, UK [Oxford cohort 1977-1987 versus Oxford Vascular Study (OXVASC) 2002-2018] to determine the time trends of clinical features of TGA. Results were validated in another independent contemporary TGA cohort in Italy [Northern Umbria TGA registry (NU) 2002-2018]. We compared the risk factors, clinical features and long-term prognosis (major cardiovascular events, recurrent TGA and seizure/epilepsy) of patients presenting with episodes lasting < 1 h versus those lasting ≥ 1 h.

Results: Overall, 639 patients with TGA were included (114 Oxford cohort, 100 OXVASC, 425 NU). Compared with the original Oxford cohort, there were more cases with TGA lasting < 1 h in OXVASC [32 (32.0%) vs. 9 (8.8%)] and NU (11.8% vs. 8.8% in Oxford cohort). In both OXVASC and NU, patient age, vascular risk factors and clinical features were largely similar between those with TGA lasting < 1 h versus those lasting ≥ 1 h. Moreover, there was no difference in the long-term risk of seizure/epilepsy or major cardiovascular events between TGA lasting < 1 h versus TGA lasting ≥ 1 h.

Conclusions: Short-duration TGA episodes (<1 h) were not uncommon and were more frequent than in earlier studies. The clinical features and long-term prognosis of short-duration TGA did not differ from more typical episodes lasting ≥ 1 h.

Keywords: epilepsy; seizure; stroke; transient global amnesia.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no financial or other conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Frequency of anterograde memory deficit of different duration in (a) Oxford cohort versus Oxford Vascular Study (OXVASC) versus (b) Northern Umbria transient global amnesia registry (NU).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

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