E-Mail karger@karger.com Original Paper Eur Neurol 2014;71:19–24 DOI: 10.1159/000354023 Different Risk Factor Profiles between Transient Global Amnesia and Transient Ischemic Attack: A Large Case-Control Study Jae-Won Jang So Young Park Jeong-Ho Hong Young Ho Park Jung E. Kim SangYun Kim Clinical Neuroscience Center, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam-si, and Department of Neurology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea lipidemia, previous ischemic stroke and ischemic heart dis- ease. Conclusion: The cardiovascular risk factors identified in TGA patients in this study were different from those of previously reported studies. This disproportionate preva- lence of cardiovascular risk factors may constitute possible evidence that TGA and TIA differ in their pathophysiological mechanism. In addition, some cardiovascular risk factors, such as hyperlipidemia and ischemic heart disease, should be regarded as possible risk factors of TGA. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel Introduction Transient global amnesia (TGA) refers to the sudden onset of anterograde and retrograde amnesia which lasts up to 24 h with no other cognitive impairment. It was first described in 1956 by Fisher and Adams [1], but the exact pathophysiological mechanism is still unknown. Several etiological factors, such as migraine, epilepsy, cerebral ischemia and venous flow abnormalities have been pro- posed as a possible explanation [2–5]. Among them, ce- rebral ischemia in terms of thromboembolic etiology or hemodynamics was investigated through several case- control studies in comparison with transient ischemic at- Key Words Transient global amnesia · Transient ischemic attack · Cardiovascular risk factor Abstract Background: The pathophysiology of transient global am- nesia (TGA) is not fully understood. This study was conduct- ed to identify the cardiovascular risk factors of TGA com- pared to those of transient ischemic attack (TIA) and normal controls, using a large number of subjects. In addition to the comparison of risk factors, an association between the ob- served cardiovascular risk factors in the current study and a pathophysiological mechanism recently investigated was speculated upon. Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective case-control study that compared 293 TGA pa- tients to 632 TIA patients and 293 age- and sex-matched normal controls. Demographic details and cardiovascular risk factors were carefully recorded. Results: TGA patients had a significantly higher prevalence of ischemic heart dis- ease and hyperlipidemia; however, they had a lower prev- alence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, ischemic stroke and atrial fibrillation when compared to TIA patients. When compared to age- and sex-matched normal controls, TGA patients also had a significantly higher prevalence of hyper- Received: March 25, 2013 Accepted: June 23, 2013 Published online: November 23, 2013 SangYun Kim, MD, PhD Clinical Neuroscience Center Seoul National University Bundang Hospital 300 Gumi-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do 463-707 (Korea) E-Mail neuroksy  @  snu.ac.kr © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel 0014–3022/14/0712–0019$39.50/0 www.karger.com/ene Downloaded by: Seoul Nat'l Medical School 221.163.32.101 - 11/25/2013 11:16:37 AM