[Changes in depression, anxiety, and vital exhaustion in patients after ICD implantation. Comparison of clinical subgroups].
The psychological strain of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) is infrequently explored in prospective studies, which have until now generally focused on the dimensions anxiety and depression. Furthermore, vital exhaustion (VE; ICD10 F 48.0) is known as a very good predictor for negative outcome in patients with coronary heart disease. The influence of VE on patients with an ICD is presented and analyzed in a prospective study. A total of 249 patients with an ICD completed a set of questionnaires (HADS, EQ-5D, VE) at baseline and at the 1-year follow-up. The patients with high levels of depression, anxiety, and VE after ICD implantation did not show spontaneous remission after 1 year. As expected, the implanatation of an ICD is associated with high acceptance and increased life quality in about 3/4 of patients. However, there is a subgroup of patients (20-30%) who have difficulties and the measured dimensions remain at elevated levels after implantation, thus, indicating that these patients probably need competent psychological help.
PubMed Abstracts
PubMed Abstracts