Takotsubo syndrome and stroke risk: A nationwide register-based study

Abstract

AimsPrevious small-scale studies have indicated a short-term stroke incidence of 1.0–1.3% following Takotsubo (syndrome). In this nationwide register-based study, we investigated the 90-day risk of ischemic stroke (IS) or transient ischemia attack (TIA) and mortality of patients with Takotsubo. Methods and resultsPatients with incident Takotsubo between January 1st 2009 to September 30th 2018 were identified from Danish nationwide registries. Takotsubo patients were age- and sex-matched with background-, atrial fibrillation/flutter- (AF) and myocardial infarction (MI) cohorts. Cumulative incidences and Cox proportional-hazard regression models were used to analyze the following outcomes: 1) composite of IS/TIA and 2) all-cause mortality. A total of 890 patients with Takotsubo were followed for 90 days. The cumulative 90-day incidence of IS/TIA in the Takotsubo-, background-, AF- and MI cohort, was 2.1% (n = 19), 0.1% (n = 4), 1.1% (n = 47) and 1.5% (n = 66), respectively. The cumulative 90-day mortality in the Takotsubo-, background-, AF- and MI cohort was 5.1% (n = 45), 0.3% (n = 13), 1.7% (n = 75) and 5.6% (n = 230), respectively.The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for 90-day IS/TIA was when compared to the background-, AF- and MI cohort, 26.43 (95% CI: 8.82–79.24), 1.91 (95% CI: 1.09–3.35) and 2.06 (95% CI: 1.12–3.79), respectively. The adjusted HR for 90-day mortality was when compared to the background-, AF- and MI cohort, 14.19 (95% CI: 7.43–27.09), 0.73 (95% CI: 0.52–1.02) and 1.96 (95% CI: 1.25–3.07), respectively. ConclusionPatients with Takotsubo had an increased 90-day hazard for IS/TIA when compared to age- and sex-matched background-, AF- and MI cohorts.