Longitudinal changes in quality of life following ICD implant and the impact of age, gender, and ICD shocks: observations from the INTRINSIC RV trial.

Purpose: ICDs can improve survival in at-risk patients but no consensus exists with respect to their impact on health-related quality of life (QOL). Moreover, the data are unclear on QOL benefits in specific patient subgroups. We sought to analyze, in the INTRINSIC RV ICD trial population, health-related QOL longitudinally following ICD implant and consider impact of age, gender, and ICD shocks on QOL by employing a global measure of health-related QOL.

Comparison of actigraphic and subjective measures of sleep in implantable cardioverter defibrillator and coronary artery disease patients.

Background: Cardiac patients frequently have insomnia symptoms that may pose risk for future cardiac events. Poor sleep relates to hyperarousal, anxiety and depression, and the incidence of hypertension and myocardial infarction.

Hypothesis: The authors hypothesized that implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) patients would have poorer sleep than coronary artery disease (CAD) patients related to hypervigilance for device functioning and shock discharge.