Epidemiology and Outcomes of Takotsubo Syndrome in Hospitalizations With Systemic Sclerosis

Background Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) is associated with chronic inflammation which leads to macrophage activation and thus vascular insult and fibrosis. Macrophage activation is shown to precede Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) which may be a common pathophysiologic link to SSc. Methods We queried the National Inpatient Sample (2008-2014) for adult SSc-related hospitalizations and TTS using relevant International Classification of Diseases Clinical Modification, 9th Revision codes. We assessed the prevalence and trends in TTS during this time. We further assessed demographics, comorbidities, and outcomes were in SSc with and without TTS. The primary outcomes of the analysis were all-cause mortality and in-hospital complications including cardiac arrest and acute myocardial infarction (AMI), arrhythmias, and venous thromboembolism, and stroke. Results A total of 213,728 SSc-related hospitalizations were found, of which 357 experienced TTS (0.2%) with rising trends in TTS from 2008-2014 (0.06% to 0.3%, relative increase of 24%, p trend