Clinical Characteristics in Transient Ischemic Attack Patients with Atrial Fibrillation

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to clarify the characteristics of transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) compared to those without. METHODS: We divided 67 TIA patients with left hemispheric involvement into two groups; patients with AF (AF group) and without AF (Non-AF group) and compared the clinical characteristics between the two groups. PATIENTS: AF group included 12 patients (73.0 +/- 9.7 years old) and the Non-AF group 55 patients (64.1 +/- 9.8 years old). RESULTS: Clinically, arterial disease was less frequently seen in the AF group than in the Non-AF group (17% vs 53%, p = 0.028). No significant differences were observed between the two groups in the duration (< 1 hour; AF vs Non AF group: 50% vs 32%) or number of TIAs (more than 1; 17% vs 37%), use of anticoagulation or antiplatelet at time of symptom onset (34% vs 14%), past history of stroke and TIA (58% vs 38%) and ischemic heart diseases (8% vs 13%), and risk factors for atherosclerosis including hypertension (42% vs 71%), diabetes mellitus (17% vs 31%), hyperlipidemia (17% vs 47%), smoking (50% vs 51%) and other emboligenic cardiac diseases except for AF (0% vs 4%). Aphasia was observed more frequently in the AF group than in the Non-AF group (67% vs 20%, p = 0.003), whereas, hemiparesis without aphasia was seen less frequently in the AF group than in the Non-AF group (17% vs 55%, p = 0.025). CONCLUSION: TIA patients with AF are more likely than those without AF to exhibit a major hemispheric syndrome, such as aphasia.