Five-Year Prognosis of Transient Ischemic Attack and Transient Global Amnesia in a Finnish Population

Transient ischemic attack (TIA) often precedes the ischemic stroke and, therefore, requires urgent treatment, whereas transient global amnesia (TGA) is a benign condition but often causes concern to patients and their relatives. The longitudinal prognosis of TIA or TGA has not recently been reported in Finland. In this study, we studied the 5-year prognosis of TIA and TGA concerning especially stroke, TIA, and mortality.

The original study population includes 293 patients with TIA and 56 patients with TGA diagnosed in Kuopio University Hospital (KUH) in 2017. Original data were collected from the hospital records of KUH in 2017 and abovementioned 5-year outcome, and also, cardiovascular events were studied using national registers provided by Findata. SPSS and R were used in statistical analyses.

The risk of stroke was 29.4% (n = 86) after TIA and 7.1% (n = 4) after TGA within 5 years after index event. Among the TIA patients, ABCD₂ score ≥4 correlated with a higher risk of stroke (p = 0.04). Recurrent TIA occurred in 29.0% (n = 85) of TIA patients, whereas none of the TGA patients had TIA. Of TIA patients, 25.9% (n = 76) and 3.6% (n = 2) of TGA patients died during the follow-up period. Vascular cause of death occurred in 10.2% of TIA and in none of TGA patients.

Patients with TIA had a significantly higher risk for stroke, recurrent TIA, and death than patients with TGA. Factors associated with cardiovascular outcomes require more research to prevent recurrent events after TIA.