HISTORY OF TRANSIENT ISCHEMIC ATTACKS IN CHILEAN PATIENTS WITH CEREBROVASCULAR-DISEASE

Background: It has been postulated that in Chile, transient ischemic a ttacks (TIA) are much less frequent than in Caucasian populations. A l esser frequency of these attacks would be due to a higher frequency of intracranial atheromas, whereas an abundance of TIA would be a result of a higher frequency of intracranial atheromas. Aim: To study the hi story of TIA in a group of Chilean patients with an acute episode of c erebrovascular disease. Patients and methods: One hundred forty nine p atients admitted to a Neurology service of a public hospital in Santia go, with an acute stroke, were studied. Patients and close relatives w ere interrogated about previous symptoms of TIA using a structured que stionnaire. Results: One hundred nine patients had an ischemic and 40 patients a hemorrhagic stroke. Twenty patients with ischemic stroke ha d a history of TIA (18%). Fifteen out of 74 patients without a cardiac source of emboli (20%) and five out of 35 cases with an embolic sourc e (14%) had a TIA preceding their stroke. Three out of 40 patients of 40 patients (8%) hemorrhagic stroke had a history of TIA. Conclusions: This study does not support nor reject the hypothesis of a Chilean pa ttern of cerebrovascular disease unlike that found in Northern Caucasi ans.