Recent literature reports of Takotsubo syndrome describe a younger, more comorbid population with higher rates of physical stress triggers, cardiogenic shock, and in-hospital mortality compared to historical registries.
BACKGROUND: Increasing recognition of takotsubo syndrome (TTS) is being realized since its formal description in 1990/1991 with information provided in case reports, patient series, and multinational registries. The present study aimed at gathering all the patient reports published in the world literature in 2024 to evaluate possible changes in the diagnosis and management of TTS, as compared with TTS registries. METHODS: All the patients with TTS and granular data published in PubMed in response to the MeSH term "takotsubo" in 2024 were scrutinized with data tabulated pertaining to 85+ variables, and compared with the corresponding data deriving from the latest published reports of the InterTak, RETAKO, and GEIST TTS registries. RESULTS: The present study comprised 246 patients aged 58.2 ± 20.3, with 41 (16.7%) being male, reported from 51 countries, and were characterized by comparison with the 8,288 patients from the 3 registries, by lower rates of risk factors for CAD and cancer, very high comorbidity burden (86.2%), "physical stress"-triggered TTS (69.5% vs. 47.5%, 28.%, 35.5%, for the 3 registries, correspondingly, P = 0.00001), and higher rates of cardiogenic shock (20.7% vs 8.5%, 10.5%, and 8.1%, P = 0.00001), in-hospital mortality (6.9% vs 5.5%, 2.3%, P = 0.00001), and recurrence of TTS (7.3% vs 3.2%, P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: The patients with TTS published in the world literature in 2024 comprise a younger group revealing lower risks for CAD and cancer, and higher rates of comorbidity, "physical stress"-triggered TTS, in-hospital complications, mortality, and TTS recurrence, as compared to patients published heretofore.
John E. Madias (2026) studied this question.