Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40270669›Full record

ArticleEuropean journal of case reports in internal medicine2025

Transient Global Amnesia Triggered by Cold Water Swimming: A Series of 9 Cases Presenting to a Hospital on the Coast of Ireland Within 5 Years.

Colm Tuohy, Ginna Alexandra Polania Zuleta

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in European journal of case reports in internal medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Colm TuohyInternal Medicine, Bantry General Hospital, Cork, Ireland.
Ginna Alexandra Polania ZuletaInternal Medicine, Bantry General Hospital, Cork, Ireland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Transient global amnesia is a clinical syndrome characterized by sudden onset of anterograde amnesia, often accompanied by repetitive questioning, lasting up to 24 hours with complete resolution and no other neurological deficits. This case series presents 9 patients who experienced transient global amnesia following sea swimming between 2019 and 2024 at Bantry General Hospital, a hospital located in a coastal town on the south of Ireland. Case presentations: Patients who presented with "amnesia" or "transient global amnesia" were identified through searching the hospital database. Patients whose symptoms were directly related to sea swimming were included in this report. All 9 patients were women, with ages ranging from 55 to 82 years. Symptoms typically developed during or immediately after swimming, with durations ranging from 1 to 7 hours. Common symptoms included confusion, short-term memory loss, repetitive questioning and disorientation to time and/or place. Water temperatures ranged from 9.2°C to 18°C. Neuroimaging, including computed tomography scans of the brain for all patients and magnetic resonance imaging for 3 patients, showed no acute changes. All patients experienced full symptom resolution within 24 hours. Conclusions: This case series highlights the link between cold water immersion during sea swimming and transient global amnesia. The consistent association with sea swimming aligns with previous reports identifying cold water immersion as a trigger for transient global amnesia. These findings warrant further investigation into the relationship between sea swimming and transient global amnesia. Clinicians should be aware of this potential trigger when evaluating patients with acute onset amnesia, especially in coastal areas. LEARNING POINTS: This case series highlights the link between sea swimming and the occurrence of transient global amnesia.With the increasing popularity of sea swimming around Europe, clinicians should be aware of this phenomenon.Further research is necessary to understand the underlying mechanism behind this phenomenon.

Indexed as

Cold water exposuresea swimmingtransient global amnesia

Identifiers

PMID40270669
PMCPMC12013247

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.