Europace Advance Access published online on February 7, 2006
Europace, doi:10.1093/europace/euj052
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1 Department of Medicine, Landspitali University Hospital, Hringbraut, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Aims Studies indicate a poorer quality of life (QoL) for implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) patients than for the general population. However, studies comparing the QoL of ICD patients with that of patients with other implantable cardiac devices are scarce. We hypothesized that ICD patients had a poorer QoL than pacemaker patients. Methods and results All ICD patients living in Iceland at the beginning of 2002 (44 subjects), and a comparison group of 81 randomly selected patients with pacemakers were invited to participate. The Icelandic Quality of Life Questionnaire (IQL), the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were submitted to measure QoL, psychiatric distress, and symptoms of anxiety and depression. The ICD and pacemaker groups did not differ on IQL, BAI, BDI, or GHQ scores. ICD patients were as a group more fearful of death (P = 0.056) and showed more concerns about returning to work (P = 0.072), although these items fell just short of statistical significance. Conclusion Contrary to our expectations, ICD patients had a comparable QoL with pacemaker recipients and were not more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression, or general psychiatric distress. These findings are encouraging in view of expanding ICD indications.
Received February 21, 2005
Accepted November 21, 2005
Article
Health-related quality of life of patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators compared with that of pacemaker recipients
Margret Leosdottir 1,
Engilbert Sigurdsson 2,
Gudrun Reimarsdottir 1,
Gizur Gottskalksson 1,
Bjarni Torfason 3,
Margret Vigfusdottir 1,
Sveinn Eggertsson 4,
and
David O. Arnar 1 *
2 Department of Psychiatry, Landspitali University Hospital, Hringbraut, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
3 Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Landspitali University Hospital, Hringbraut, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
4 Department of Anthropology, University of Iceland, Sudurgata, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland
David O. Arnar, E-mail: davidar{at}landspitali.is
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