Observational study on the quality of life of persons with implantable cardioverter-defibrillator for the prevention of sudden cardiac death

Introduction: the Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) prolongs significantly the lifespan of patients at risk for sudden cardiac death, but its effects on the psycho-social aspects besides the quality of life related to health are not yet clear. The aim of this study is to test the hypothesis that an ICD determines a deterioration in the quality of life in relation to health status. Methods: data were collected through interviews with a non-probabilistic sample of convenience. The instrument used was the SF-36, which investigates the quality of life in relation to health status. The collected data were entered into a database (Excel®) and processed with the software Matlab® to perform a multivariate analysis. Results: the analysis shows a significant worsening of quality of life in patients with defibrillator in 3 domains, which refer to physical health, while those in reference to mental health have not shown significant changes. Nevertheless, the majority of patients perceive their health basically unchanged (37%) compared to a year ago. This is probably due to the fact that all subjects enrolled in the study have not experienced arrhythmic events treated with shock. Discussion: the initial hypothesis that the ICD determines a deterioration in the quality of life is partly confirmed. On one hand the physical health suffers the effects of the defibrillator, as shown by the worsening of score of the 3 domains regarding physical aspects. On the other hand mental health, which is composed of both the psychological and social aspects, it is not affected.