Serum Cortisol Levels in Patients with a Transient Global Amnesia

R. Schneckenburger , Mathieu Hainselin (1) , F. Viader (2, 3, 4) , F. Eustache (5) , P. Quinette (4)

1 CRP-CPO - Centre de Recherche en Psychologie : Cognition, Psychisme et Organisations - UR UPJV 7273
2 Service de Neurologie [CHU Caen]
3 CMMR - Centre Mémoire de Ressource et de Recherche de Caen
4 NIMH - Neuropsychologie et imagerie de la mémoire humaine
5 Laboratoire de Neuropsychologie

Transient global amnesia (TGA) can be triggered by a high level of blood cortisol. We assessed whether patients had a higher level of cortisol during the TGA than shortly after. We included 52 patients, 21 with blood collected during the TGA episode and 31 shortly thereafter. We compared these two groups after adjustment for time of blood collection. The cortisol level was significantly higher in the per-ictal group (P = 0.03) and negatively correlated with the time elapsed from symptom onset (P = 0.005). The results are consistent with of the hypothesis of a hyperreactivity of the hypothalamic\textendash pituitary\textendash adrenal axis. \textcopyright 2020 Elsevier Masson SAS

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Psychologie

R. Schneckenburger, Mathieu Hainselin, F. Viader, F. Eustache, P. Quinette. Serum Cortisol Levels in Patients with a Transient Global Amnesia. Revue Neurologique, 2020, 176 (4), pp.285--288. ⟨10.1016/j.neurol.2019.08.011⟩. ⟨hal-03679398⟩