Table 1 Studies found in literature describing systematically aura disturbances in a population

Viana 2017 [2]

216

Y

Flashes of bright light (30%), ‘foggy’ / blurred vision (25%), zigzag or jagged lines (24%), scotoma (23%), phosphenes (small bright dots) (19%), flickering light (12%), ‘like looking through heat waves or water’ (8%), visual snow (7%), white spots (7%), ‘bean-like’ forms like a crescent or C-shaped (7%), hemianopsia (6%), deformed images (alteration of line / angles) (6%), ‘tunnel’ vision (4%), curved or circular lines (4%), colored dots / spots of light (3%), black spots (3%) oscillopsia (2%), fractured vision (1%), anopia (1%), alteration of the perception of distance (1%).

Hansen 2016 [14]

251

N

Dots or flashing lights (70%), wavy or jagged lines (47%), blind spots (42%), tunnel vision (27%).

Petrusic 2014 [15]^a

40

N

Scintillating scotoma (67%); zigzag lines (25%); blurred vision (60%); tunnel vision (40%).

Queiroz 2011 [16]

122

N

Blurred vision (54%), small bright dots (47%), zigzag or jagged lines (41%), flashes of bright light (38%), blind spots (33%), flickering light (30%), ‘like looking through heat waves or water’ (24%), hemianopsia (24%), white spots (22%), coloured dots/spots of light (19%), corona phenomena (18%), curved or circular lines (18%), small black dots (17%), ‘bean-like’ forms like a crescent or c-shaped (16%), black spots (14%), like a mosaic (13%), things look farther away than they really are (13%), round forms (12%), ‘tunnel’ vision (9%), micropsia (4%), things look closer than they really are (3%), macropsia (things look larger than they really are) (3%), complex hallucinations (3%)

Sjaastad 2006 [17]

233

N

Scintillating scotoma (a propagating “crescent” of the homonymous type) of the homonymous type (62%), obscuration (“dimness”/ foggy vision) (33%), photopsia (“unformed flashes of light”/star-shaped figures) autokinesis (4%), depth vision failure (3%), autokinesis (4%), depth vision failure (2%), tunnel vision (2%), anopia (2%), metamorphopsia (2%), hemianopsia (2%), micropsia (2%), macropsia (1%).

Eriksen 2004 [18]

362

N

Flickering light (91%), zigzag lines (fortification) (57%), scotoma (70%), preserved central vision (12%).

Cologno 2000 [19]

340

Y^a

Scintillating scotomas and fortification spectra (38%), scintillating scotomas (29%) or fortificating spectra (27%).

Kallela 1999 [20]

NR

N

Hemianopsia (31%), scintillating scotoma (57%), photopsia (52), blurring vision (34%),

Mattson 1999 [21]

NR

N

Zigzag line (29–35%), scintillation (54–59%)

Queiroz 1997 [22]

100

N

Small bright dots (“stars”) (42%), White spots/flashes of light (photopsias) (39%), teichopsia (20%), other zigzag lines (17%), coloured spots of light (15%), other lines (curves, straight, etc) (9%), “Blind spots” (scotomata) (32%), black dots/spots (13%), hemianopsia (6%), “foggy”/blurred vision (27%), “as looking through heat waves/water” (10%), “tunnel vision” (10%), “mosaic”/fractured vision (6%), micropsia/macropsia/teleopsia (2%), corona phenomena (2%), complex hallucination (1%), “slanted vision” (1%), “like a negative of film” (1%).

Russel 1996 [23]

163

N

Flickering light (87%), zigzag lines (fortification) (81%), scotoma (50%), preserved central vision (22%),

Lanzi 1994 [24]

47

N

Foggy vision (53%), scintillating scotomas (41%), negative scotomas (5%), white spots (5%)

Russel 1994 [25]

56

Y

A scotoma occurred in 15 attacks (26%), Visual disturbances flickering in 39 attacks (69%). 26 attacks of a semicircular zigzag line (fortification). 1 attack had small flickering star-shaped figures. In 5 attacks the light was constant with zigzag lines. Visual snow, as well as several small scotomas merging to one scotoma was also reported.

Hachinski 1973 [26]^b

100

N

Binocular visual impairment (transient blindness and blurring of vision the most common ones) and/or scotomas (77%), distortion and hallucination (micropsia and macropsia were the most common, inversion, alteration of the perception of motion and elaborate hallucination were less seen) (16%), uniocular visual impairment and scotoma (7%)