To Örebro University

Background: Takotsubo syndrome (TS) is a potentially life-threatening acute cardiac syndrome with a clinical presentation similar to myocardial infarction and for which the natural history, management, and outcome remain incompletely understood. Our aim was to assess the relative short-term mortality risk of TS, ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), and non-STEMI (NSTEMI) and to identify predictors of in-hospital complications and poor prognosis in patients with TS.

Methods and Results: This is an observational cohort study based on the data from the SCAAR (Swedish Coronary Angiography and Angioplasty Registry). We included all patients (n=117 720) who underwent coronary angiography in Sweden attributed to TS (N=2898 [2.5%]), STEMI (N=48 493 [41.2%]), or NSTEMI (N=66 329 [56.3%]) between January 2009 and February 2018. We compared patients with TS to those with NSTEMI or STEMI. The primary end point was all-cause mortality at 30 days. Secondary outcomes were acute heart failure (Killip Class ≥2) and cardiogenic shock (Killip Class 4) at the time of angiography. Patients with TS were more often women compared with patients with STEMI or NSTEMI. TS was associated with unadjusted and adjusted 30-day mortality risks lower than STEMI (adjusted hazard ratio [adjHR], 0.60; 95% CI, 0.48-0.76; P<0.001), but higher than NSTEMI (adjHR, 2.70; 95% CI, 2.14-3.41; P<0.001). Compared with STEMI, TS was associated with a similar risk of acute heart failure (adjHR, 1.26; 95% CI, 0.91-1.76; P=0.16) but a lower risk of cardiogenic shock (adjHR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.34-0.89; P=0.02). The relative 30-day mortality risk for TS versus STEMI and NSTEMI was higher for smokers than nonsmokers (adjusted P interaction STEMI=0.01 and P interaction NSTEMI=0.01).

Conclusions: The 30-day mortality rate in TS was higher than in NSTEMI but lower than STEMI despite a similar risk of acute heart failure in TS and STEMI. Among patients with TS, smoking was an independent predictor of mortality.