title: Low Incidence of Atrial Fibrillation in Patients with Transient Ischemic Attack.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a major cause of stroke. Therefore, all patients with ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) should be examined with 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) and continuous monitoring to detect AF. Current guidelines recommend at least 24 h continuous ECG monitoring, which is primarily based on studies investigating patients with ischemic stroke. The aim of our study was to investigate the diagnostic yield of 12-lead ECG and Holter monitoring in patients with TIA.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively investigated all patients diagnosed with TIA at Odense University Hospital, Denmark, from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014. TIA was a clinical diagnosis according to the WHO definition. Patients received admission ECG and 72-hour Holter monitoring after discharge.
  
  
  RESULTS
  171 patients without known AF were diagnosed with TIA. Four (2.3%) were diagnosed with AF on admission ECG. Another 2 (1.2%) were diagnosed with AF on Holter monitoring. In total, 6 patients (3.5%) were diagnosed with AF. Patients with AF were significantly older (mean age 79.4 [95% CI 65.1-93.6] years) than patients without AF (mean age 67.6 [95% CI 65.6-69.5] years) but otherwise showed no difference in baseline characteristics.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this retrospective study, patients with TIA had a low incidence of AF detected with ECG and 72-hour Holter monitoring. Prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark.
authors.forename: Kenneth Bruun
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chemnitz
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Madsen
authors.forename: Niels C F
authors.initials: NCF
authors.lastname: Sandgaard
authors.forename: Søren
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bak
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brandes
keywords: Atrial fibrillation; Cardiac monitoring; Transient ischemic attack