ICDs Improve Quality of Life for Heart Patients

A new survey by scientists from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine has found that implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) can help heart patients live a longer, better quality life. The patients can remain more active without having to worry too much about their hearts.

ICDs are electric monitoring devices that deliver a lifesaving shock to the heart of the patient in case s/he suffers from cardiac arrest. Use of ICDs has increased rapidly over the last few years, especially as a means for primary prevention. The US alone saw more than 50,000 implants of the devices in 2005 and their demand has been steadily increasing. Currently ICDs are among the most common cardiovascular devices in use for heart treatment.

The study by Dr. Peter Groeneveld, Assistant Professor of General Internal Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine and colleagues found that most patients living with ICDs enjoy a quality of life that is very much at par with average Americans their age. Additionally these patients are also highly satisfied with their devices. These findings put to rest long-standing perceptions that while ICDs do extend life of heart patients, they also seriously impair everyday life.

This study is the first to take a look at the quality of life and cost faced by patients who have received ICDs as primary prevention for their heart problems. Primary prevention means these patients did not have any history of abnormal heart rhythms, but their heart disease put them at risk of sudden cardiac death. The study is also one of the first to check the effectiveness of ICDs in patients without enrolling them in clinical trials.

“While the lifesaving benefits of ICDs have been well documented over the last decade, little was known about the experience of patients in the real world post implantation. This study looked at a population that better represents current device recipients, which in turn, means that physicians can now communicate a more accurate description about life with the device to patients,” said Groeneveld.

The research team used a comprehensive survey method to analyse the quality of life and related benefits patients get due to ICDs. Both primary prevention and secondary prevention ICD patients, i.e. patients who have already suffered a cardiac event, were covered under the survey.

They found that patients who had an ICD implanted had high levels of emotion, physical and function well-being. Such patients were easily able to adapt to living with the device and were satisfied with its functioning. To compare with average Americans of the same age, the researchers analysed their findings against a control population and found that there were only a few differences.

During their survey, the researchers found issues such as driving, lifting heavy objects and sexual activity to be the most common lifestyle concerns for ICD patients. This led the researchers to suggest that physicians should address these issues with their patients at the time of communicating expectations of spending a lifetime with the devices. They also felt that doctors should continue doing so as a routine during long-term care.

Dr. Groeneveld believes that advances in ICD technology over the last decade has resulted in smaller, more easily programmed devices that respond more accurately to the needs of the individual patient. Such devices have actually improved the quality of life benefits for patients.

“With an estimated one million Americans eligible for implantation today, it is extremely important to verify that ICDs deliver value on par with the health care dollars expended in most heart patients, even among the elderly,” he said. Findings of the survey research have been published in the April 2007 issue of the journal Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology.

Related Discussions Obese patients safer in hospital after Heart Failure New Device Could Reduce Pain for Heart-Surgery Patients Heart Patients at High Post-Hospital Stroke Risk

Related Articles ICDs can Save Heart Patients Educational Programs can Improve Health of Heart Patients Heart Attack Patients Avoid Life-saving Drugs