LVAD partners had significantly higher levels of anxiety than LVAD patients. Emotional distress of LVAD partners should gain more attention, as partners are an essential source of support for LVAD patients.

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ABSTRACT

A subset of patients with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) reports psychological distress and poor quality of life (QoL). Gender is one of the factors that has been proposed to explain individual differences in these outcomes. In this viewpoint, we (1) review the evidence for gender disparities in psychological distress and QoL in ICD patients by means of a systematic review, and (2) provide recommendations for future research and clinical implications. A systematic search of the literature identified 18 studies with a sample size ≥ 100 that examined gender disparities in anxiety/depression and QoL in ICD patients (mean prevalence of women = 21%; mean age = 62 years). Our review shows that there is insufficient evidence to conclude that gender per se is a major autonomous predictor for disparities in psychological distress and QoL in ICD patients. Women had a higher prevalence of anxiety and poorer QoL in some studies, but there was no statistically significant gender effect in relation to 80% (26/32) of the outcomes reported in the 18 studies. Studies are warranted that are designed a priori and sufficiently powered to examine gender disparities in distress and QoL outcomes in order to establish the exact gender-specific effect. Due to a need to explore the complexity of this issue further, at this time, caution is warranted with respect to the clinical implications.

Psychological vulnerability, ventricular tachyarrhythmias and mortality in implantable cardioverter defibrillator patients Pedersen, Susanne; Brouwers, Corline; Versteeg, Henneke

Patient-reported outcomes in left ventricular assist device therapyBrouwers, C.J.; Denollet, J.; de Jonge, N.; Caliskan, K.; Kealy, J.; Pedersen, S.S. General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.-Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research -You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain -You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright, please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Background-Technological advancements of left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) have created today's potential for extending the lives of patients with end-stage heart failure. Few studies have examined the effect of LVAD therapy on patient-reported outcomes (PROs), such as health status, quality of life, and anxiety/depression, despite poor PROs predicting mortality and rehospitalization in patients with heart failure. In this systematic review, we provide an overview of available evidence on the impact of LVAD therapy on PROs and discuss recommendations for clinical research and practice. Methods and Results-A systematic literature search identified 16 quantitative studies with a sample size Ն10 (meanϮSD ageϭ50.1Ϯ12.6 years) that examined the impact of LVAD therapy on PROs using a quantitative approach. Initial evidence suggests an improvement in health status, anxiety, and depression in the first few months after LVAD implantation. However, PRO scores of patients receiving LVAD therapy are still lower for physical, social, and emotional functioning compared with transplant recipients. These studies had several methodological shortcomings, including the use of relatively small sample sizes, and only a paucity of studies focused on anxiety and depression. Conclusions-There is a paucity of studies on the patient perspective of LVAD therapy. To advance the field of LVAD research and to optimize the care of an increasingly growing population of patients receiving LVAD therapy, more well-designed large-scale studies are needed to further elucidate the impact of LVAD therapy on PROs. (Circ Heart Fail. 2011;4:714-723.)Key Words: left ventricular assist device Ⅲ patient-reported outcomes Ⅲ quality of life Ⅲ review

Patients with HF taking antidepressants had an increased risk for all-cause and CV-mortality, irrespectively of having clinical depression. These results highlight the importance of further examining the antidepressant prescription pattern in patients with HF, as this may be crucial in understanding the antidepressant effects on cardiac function and mortality.

Background Improving patient‐reported outcomes (e.g. health status) has become an important goal in left ventricular assist device (LVAD) therapy, in addition to reducing mortality and morbidity. We examined predictors of changes in health status scores between and within patients 12 months post LVAD implantation. Methods Health status [Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ); Short‐Form 12 (SF‐12)] were assessed at 3–4 weeks after implantation, and at 3, 6 and 12 months follow up in 54 LVAD patients (74% men; mean age 54 ± 9 years). Results Patients experienced significant improvements in health status between baseline and 3 months follow‐up as assessed by the KCCQ (clinical summary score: F = 33.49, P < 0.001; overall summary score: F = 31.13, P < 0.001) and the SF‐12 (physical component score: F = 31.59, P < 0.001; mental component score: F = 21.77, P < 0.001), but not between 3 months and 12 months follow‐up (P > 0.05 for all). Higher scores on anxiety and depression over time, older age, lower ejection fraction, and more co‐morbidity were associated with poorer health status scores on one or both of the KCCQ and SF‐12 subscales. The majority of the between‐patient variance of the mental component summary scores (82.6%), but not the KCCQ overall summary score (41.9%), KCCQ clinical summary score (36.2%) and physical component summary scores (23.2%), was explained by the sociodemographic, clinical and psychological factors. Conclusion The majority of LVAD patients show a significant improvement in health status after LVAD implantation. However, there are large differences in individual health status score trajectories which are only partly explained by measures of disease severity pre‐LVAD, co‐morbidity and psychological stress.