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Domenico Inzitari, MD; Leonardo Pantoni, MD; Maria Lamassa, MD; Stefano Pallanti, MD; Giovanni Pracucci, MD; Paolo Marini, MD

Arch Neurol. 1997;54(7):866-873.

Abstract
Objective
To evaluate the role of emotionally stressful or phobogenic events and phobic personality traits in transient global amnesia (TGA).

Design
Case-control study.

Setting
Tertiary care center.

Patients
Fifty-one case patients with TGA (mean±SD age, 62.7±6.7 years) compared with 51 control patients with transient ischemic attacks (mean±SD age, 63.8±6.7 years).

Main Outcome Measures
Precipitant factors, life events, and phobic attitudes.

Results
Of the 25 TGA attacks that were triggered by a precipitant, 11 were possibly related to emotionally stressful or phobogenic situations. On a scale that measured phobic attitudes, the case patients with TGA scored significantly higher than the control patients with transient ischemic attacks (mean±SD total score, 15.21±11.0 vs 4.41±5.2; P<.001 by corrected analysis of variance for age, sex, and education). The amount of stressful life events in the year that preceded the attack did not differ between the case patients with TGA and the control patients with transient ischemic attacks.

Conclusion
The results support the hypothesis that emotional arousal and phobia are involved in TGA.

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Neurological and Psychiatric Sciences, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.

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