Cardiovascular and Noncardiovascular Prescribing and Mortality After Takotsubo Comparison With Myocardial Infarction and General Population.

Background: Takotsubo syndrome is an increasingly common cardiac emergency with no known evidence-based treatment.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate cardiovascular mortality and medication use after takotsubo syndrome.

Methods: In a case-control study, all patients with takotsubo syndrome in Scotland between 2010 and 2017 (n = 620) were age, sex, and geographically matched to individuals in the general population (1:4, n = 2,480) and contemporaneous patients with acute myocardial infarction (1:1, n = 620). Electronic health record data linkage of mortality outcomes and drug prescribing were analyzed using Cox proportional hazard regression models.

Results: Of the 3,720 study participants (mean age, 66 years; 91% women), 153 (25%) patients with takotsubo syndrome died over the median of 5.5 years follow-up. This exceeded mortality rates in the general population (N = 374 [15%]; HR: 1.78 [95% CI: 1.48-2.15], < 0.0001), especially for cardiovascular (HR: 2.47 [95% CI: 1.81-3.39], < 0.001) but also noncardiovascular (HR: 1.48 [95% CI: 1.16-1.87], = 0.002) deaths. Mortality rates were lower for patients with takotsubo syndrome than those with myocardial infarction (31%, 195/620; HR: 0.76 [95% CI: 0.62-0.94], = 0.012), which was attributable to lower rates of cardiovascular (HR: 0.61 [95% CI: 0.44-0.84], = 0.002) but not non-cardiovascular (HR: 0.92 [95% CI: 0.69-1.23], = 0.59) deaths. Despite comparable medications use, cardiovascular therapies were consistently associated with better survival in patients with myocardial infarction but not in those with takotsubo syndrome. Diuretic ( = 0.01), anti-inflammatory ( = 0.002), and psychotropic ( < 0.001) therapies were all associated with worse outcomes in patients with takotsubo syndrome.

Conclusions: In patients with takotsubo syndrome, cardiovascular mortality is the leading cause of death, and this is not associated with cardiovascular therapy use.