pressure values nor the duration of symptoms were found to improve explanation of the underlying status. At 3 months, stroke, recurrent TIA and myocardial infarction were absent in patients with TIA mimics but occurred in 13 (5.2%), 20 (8.1%) and 3 (1.2%) TIA patients, respectively. Conclusions: About 1 in every 5 patients with suspected TIA had a TIA mimic. Paresis suggested TIA, while other clinical variables used in risk assessment scores after TIA were not shown to distinguish between the

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... o entities. Patients with TIA mimics had a better short-term prognosis. Introduction Patients suffering from a transient ischemic attack (TIA) have a high risk of stroke within the first 3 months, ranging from 9% up to 20% at 90 days [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] . The risk of stroke is particularly high in the first few days, underlin-Abstract Background: There is insufficient evidence regarding which clinical features are best suited to distinguish between transient ischemic attack (TIA) and disorders mimicking TIA (TIA mimics). Methods: We compared the frequency, clinical characteristics and outcome of patients with TIA and TIA mimics in a prospective, single-center emergency department cohort over 2 years. Results: Of 303 patients, 248 (81.8%) had a TIA and 55 (18.2%) had TIA mimics. Epileptic seizures (26/55; 43.7%) and migraine attacks (13/55; 23.6%) were the most common TIA mimics. In patients presenting with unilateral paresis, TIA mimics were less likely than in patients without unilateral paresis [odds ratio (OR) 0.35, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.17-0.68]. Memory loss (OR 9.17, 95% CI 2.89-32.50), headache (OR 3.71, 95% CI 1.07-12.78) and blurred vision (OR 2.48, 95% CI 0.90-6.59) increased the odds of TIA mimics. Once these clinical features were taken into account, neither aphasia, dysarthria, sensory loss, blood