title: Etiology, duration, and prognosis of transient ischemic attacks: an analysis from the German Stroke Data Bank.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A transient ischemic attack (TIA) has been arbitrarily defined as a focal cerebral ischemic deficit lasting less than 24 hours.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine if TIAs of short duration (<1 hour) and long duration (1 hour to <24 hours) differ from each other and from ischemic stroke (IS).
  
  
  METHODS
  Inception cohorts of 1429 patients with acute TIAs and 5206 patients with IS were prospectively documented in 15 German medical centers with neurology departments and acute stroke units. Outcome after 3 months was assessed in 72.8% of the patients with TIAs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Risk factor distribution, etiology, and prognosis of TIAs and IS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with TIAs, especially those with symptoms lasting less than 1 hour, were significantly more likely to have a history of TIAs and less likely to have diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, or atrial fibrillation at admission compared with those with IS. Cardioembolic etiologies were less frequent and unknown etiologies more frequent among patients with TIAs than those with IS. Functional outcome and mortality did not differ significantly in patients with TIAs of different durations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrates differences in comorbidity and etiology among patients with TIAs of different durations and IS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Essen, Essen, Germany. stroke.med@uni-essen.de
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Weimar
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kraywinkel
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rödl
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hippe
authors.forename: Lutz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Harms
authors.forename: Antje
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kloth
authors.forename: Hans-Christoph
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Diener
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000150:complications*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D016208:Databases, Factual; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications*; D002546:Ischemic Attack, Transient / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors