Anxiety in patients with permanent cardiac pacemaker aged > 60 years old

Abstract

Introduction: A cardiac pacemaker is a small implanted device to control abnormal heart rhythms. According to estimates, 3 million individuals worldwide live with an implanted permanent pacemaker (PPM) while about 600 thousand pacemakers are implanted, annually.Purpose: to explore anxiety of pacemaker recipients as well as all the associated demographic and self-reported characteristics.Material and Method: 100 outpatients with PPM were enrolled in the study. Collection of data was performed by the completion of the “Self-rating Anxiety Scale Zung (SAS)” which included patients' characteristics. Results: From the 100 participants 65% were men, 66% were >70 years old, 60% married, 50,5% of primary education and 90% lived in Attica. In terms of anxiety, 50% of recipients scored less than 48 on SAS scale (wide of range: 20-80) indicating mild to low levels of anxiety. Regarding associated factors, anxiety was found to be statistically significantly associated with gender (p=<0,001), understanding of provided information (p=<0,001), understanding of precautions in electromagnetic fields (p=0,021), desire for more frequent and long term follow-up and devise assessment (p=<0,001 and p=<0,001, respectively).Conclusions: Though pacemaker is an opportunity to prolong survival, however systematic assessment of anxiety and all the associated factors is considered to be of primary importance in clinical pacemaker settings.

Psychopathology associated with cardiac pacing in Tanzania: A case series

“…30 As a consequence, emotional disarray linked to interventional procedures may potentially aggravate previous psychiatric conditions or even precipitate new psychopathologies. [21][22][23][24][25] Furthermore, psychological disturbances are barriers to adherence (both pharmacotherapy and behaviour change), negatively impact quality of life and portend poor prognosis. 31,32 Despite the well-known deleterious impact of mental health disorders on cardiac outcomes, psychological disturbances are relatively understudied yet of vital importance to the overall health of post-pacing patients.…”

“…30 As a consequence, emotional disarray linked to interventional procedures may potentially aggravate previous psychiatric conditions or even precipitate new psychopathologies. 21 – 25 Furthermore, psychological disturbances are barriers to adherence (both pharmacotherapy and behaviour change), negatively impact quality of life and portend poor prognosis. 31 , 32 …”

“…The body of literature is evident for a diversity of psychopathology ranging from anxiety symptoms to suicidality amongst post-pacing patients. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] However, owing to their complexity, clinicians tend to concentrate mainly on the technical aspects of pacemaker function and usually ignore or are unaware of the potential psychological distress. 11,25 Moreover, it is a difficult endeavor to predict which patients may succumb to psychological disturbances pre or post pacing.…”