Spontaneous coronary artery dissection and Takotsubo syndrome: comparison of baseline clinical and angiographic characteristics and in-hospital outcomes.

BACKGROUND Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) and Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) constitute two relatively common nonatherosclerotic causes of acute coronary syndrome particularly frequent in women. METHODS This study sought to compare the baseline clinical and angiographic characteristics and in-hospital outcomes of patients from two large prospective registries on SCAD and TTS (the prospective nation-wide Spanish SCAD Registry and a prospective single-center TTS registry). RESULTS A total of 318 SCAD and 106 TTS consecutive patients were included. Most patients in both groups (88%) were women. Patients in the TTS group were older [74 (interquartile range, IQR 67-81) vs. 53 years-old (IQR 47-60), P < 0.001] and presented a higher prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors. Precipitating triggers were more frequent in TTS (56% vs. 42%, P = 0.009) but emotional stress was more common in the SCAD group (25% vs. 15%, P = 0.037). TTS patients showed a reduced release of cardiac biomarkers but had more severe left ventricular dysfunction (ejection fraction <50%: 73% vs. 12%, P < 0.001). In-hospital major adverse cardiovascular events occurred more frequently in TTS patients (12% vs. 4.7%, P < 0.001). Notably, TTS patients showed more frequently congestive heart failure (10% vs. 0.6%, P < 0.001), atrial fibrillation (11% vs. 1%, P < 0.001) and had a higher all-cause in-hospital mortality (5.7% vs. 1.3%, P = 0.032). CONCLUSION TTS patients are older and present a higher prevalence of some cardiovascular risk factors than patients with SCAD. TTS is linked to a worse in-hospital prognosis with higher mortality.