General And Device-Specific Quality Of Life In Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy Patients : The Impact Of Shock And Sex

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Ashley C. Rhodes (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Abstract: Background: Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is a heritable cardiac condition that weakens the heart and results in frequent and often life-threatening arrhythmias, requiring the placement of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). ARVC patients face many medical and psychosocial challenges, and they are likely to live longer with their devices compared to other ICD patients and experience more ICD shocks. However, the quality of life (QOL) outcomes of these patients remains largely unexplored. The purposes of this study were to test for differences between ARVC and normative samples on QOL outcomes and to examine the effects of age, sex, and shock experience on QOL. \r\n Methods: One hundred and sixty-two ARVC patients completed a psychosocial survey including the Short Form Health Survey (SF-12), Florida Shock Anxiety Scale (FSAS), and Florida Patient Acceptance Survey (FPAS). These cross-sectional data were used to examine the general and device-specific QOL of ARVC patients, and to determine the impact of shock and sex on these outcome measures.\r\n Results: Results indicated that ARVC patients reported lower physical and mental QOL compared to a large, normative U.S sample. Compared to an ICD sample, they reported higher mental and physical QOL, and compared to a hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) sample, they reported lower physical QOL but higher mental QOL. Age-based comparisons revealed that ARVC patients younger than 35 reported significantly lower mental QOL than older ARVC patients. In examining the impact of sex and shock, male ARVC patients who had no ICD shock history reported significantly higher mental QOL scores than male patients who had experienced at least one ICD shock. Additionally, there were main effects for both sex and shock. Shock anxiety scores were significantly higher among individuals who had experienced at least one ICD shock. Finally, female ARVC patients reported significantly higher shock anxiety and lower mental QOL compared to their male counterparts.\r\n Conclusion: ARVC patients experience lower mental and physical QOL than a U.S. normative sample, but experience mostly superior QOL compared to relevant cardiac samples. Additionally, younger ARVC patients, female patients, and those who have experienced at least one ICD shock are at risk for psychosocial difficulties, including poorer QOL outcomes. Implications for further research and clinical care are discussed.

Additional Information

Publication

Thesis

Language: English

Date: 2023

Subjects

Clinical psychology;Medicine;Genetics;ARVC;ARVD;Cardiac;ICD;QOL

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