Statistical analysis
Continuous variables are reported as mean value ± standard deviation or median and interquartile ranges (25th–75th percentiles) if appropriate. The normality of distribution was tested with the D’Agostino-Pearson omnibus normality test. Categorical variables are presented as absolute (n) and relative (%) frequencies. The one-way ANOVA for multiple comparisons or the Kruskal-Wallis tests were used depending on the presence or absence of normal distribution of continuous variables. The Fisher-exact test was used for categorical variables. The paired T-test was used to compare baseline and follow-up continuous variables. A probability value of < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Statistical analysis was performed using the GraphPad Prism version 6.02 for Windows (GraphPad Software, La Jolla, California, USA).
Results We studied a cohort of 684 consecutive patients with recent-onset heart failure (HF) and reduced LVEF ≤ 50% not caused by valvular or ischemic heart disease. In total, 18 patients retrospectively fulfilled criteria for TCM. The clinical characteristics of these patients were compared with 496 patients with inflammatory cardiomyopathy (ICM) and with 170 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).