B a c k g r o u n d: Today no established biomarkers are available for the early diagnosis of takotsubo syndrome and its differentiation from ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. We hypothesized that copeptin and copeptin/NT-proBNP ratio may serve a routine marker combination for non-invasive differentiation.

M e t h o d s: The study compared the serum concentrations of copeptin, troponin I (TnI) and NT-proBNP in 19 consecutive women diagnosed with takotsubo syndrome according to the Mayo Clinic criteria and 10 consecutive women diagnosed with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.

R e s u l t s: Copeptin concentrations were significantly lower in patients with takotsubo syndrome than in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. The diagnostic accuracy to distinguish takotsubo syndrome from ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction is highest for copeptin/NTproBNP ratio, copeptin/TnI at admission ratio and copeptin alone (AUC 0.8713, 0.8538, 0.8480, respectively).

C o n c l u s i o n s: The serum copeptin to NTproBNP ratio could be an additional tool in the non-invasive differentiation between takotsubo syndrome and ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. However, further researches are needed.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has put healthcare systems worldwide under huge strain, resulting in a significant loss of their capacity and availability. Patients have become more reluctant to contact their doctors or call an ambulance in case of myocardial infarction (MI) symptoms onset. It has been accompanied by a significant decrease in the number of coronary angiography and PCI procedures performed.
Objectives: The aim of the study is to evaluate the role of online health information in the patient- dependent phase of MI management during the COVID-19 lockdown in Europe.
Methods: We analyzed Google Trends data on the popularity of phrases related to MI symptoms, respiratory tract infection, urological complaints, and terms unrelated to health, for the period of the first COVID-19 lockdown, along with the data from the corresponding weeks from 2017–2019 in seven European countries.
Results: The search volume for particular symptoms of myocardial infarction increased in all studied countries, compared to the analogous period from 2017–2019, with a significant increase in for chest pain, shortness of breath, fear, and palpitations in most countries. These changes have not been accompanied by increased interest in terms related to respiratory tract infection symptoms and urological complaints.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that during lockdown, patients with MI symptoms may have tried to manage their complaints on their own, using information from the Internet. This demonstrates the growing role of the Internet in the patient’s decision-making process in the emergency situation, indicating a grow-ing need for reliable and freely available online information provided by healthcare professionals.