Age related differences and outcome of patients with Takotsubo syndrome

Background Takotsubo syndrome (TS) is an important cardiac disease that affects predominantly postmenopausal women. This study was conducted to determine the impact of age on the short-and long-term outcome of TS patients. Methods & Results The data from a collective of 114 TS patients with a mean follow-up of 1591 +/- 1079 days was retrospectively analysed. The study population was divided into two groups (<= 65 and > 65 years) so as to evaluate the impact of age on the short-and long-term mortality of TS patients. In-hospital events like life-threatening arrhythmias (14.58% vs. 9.09%; P = 0.036), need for mechanical respiratory support (41.66% vs. 28.78%; P = 0.15) as well as inotropic agent use (22.91% vs. 15.15%; P = 0.29), although not reaching the statistical cut-of, tended to occur more often in the younger group. Heart failure was more common in the elderly age group (P = 0.03). The use of multivariate analysis ruled out age as a significant marker of long term mortality (HR: 1.0; 95% CI: 0.9-1.0; P = 0.60). Conclusions Age does not influence the clinical course of TS in terms of the short-as well as long-term outcome. The study revealed a higher incidence of life threatening arrhythmias in the younger patient age-group and a higher incidence of heart failure among the older group of patients.