• Concepción Moll Tudurí, Emilio José Salgado García, Daniel Santana Moreno, Ona Escoda Turón, Rosa Escoda Turón, and Santiago Nogué Xarau.
• Área de Urgencias, Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, España. Unidad de Toxicología Clínica, Área de Urgencias, Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, España.
• Emergencias. 2019 Oct 1; 31 (5): 341-345.

ObjectivesTo study the epidemiology of emergency department visits for transient global amnesia (TGA) by itself or associated with substance abuse or sexual assault.Material And MethodsRetrospective study of cases treated from January to December 2018. Data for all patients with TGA were extracted, and cases were classified as associated with substance abuse (TGASUB), sexual assault (TGASEX), or neither (TGAONLY).ResultsA total of 287 TGA cases were found: 169 (58.9%) were TGASEX, 62 (21.6%) TGAONLY, and 56 (19.5%) TGASUB. Two hundred eighteen (76%) were female and 69 (24%) were male. Ages ranged from 16 to 90 years; 174 (60.6%) were under the age of 30 years. Two hundred one patients (72.8%) reported consuming alcohol; and 105 (49.1%) were positive on testing (mean blood alcohol concentration, 0.74 g/L; maximum, 3.9 g/L. Twenty patients (7.1%) reported using cannabis, and 39 (17.3%) had positive test results; 14 reported using cocaine (4.9%) and 28 (12.4%) tested positive; 5 (1.7%) reported using amphetamines and 20 (8.8%) tested positive. Fifty-eight (20.1%) had symptoms of intoxication. Four were admitted in coma. A computed tomography scan was ordered for 66 patients (23%), 7 patients were hospitalized, and none died.ConclusionThe prevalence of TGA is higher if cases of substance abuse and sexual assault are counted. Toxicolgy testing changes the epidemiology of TGA in emergencies.

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