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.