Do implantable cardioverter defibrillators contribute to new depression or anxiety symptoms? A retrospective study

In this retrospective cross-sectional study, we evaluated the existence of psychiatric symptoms which appeared after implantation of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD).

Patients with ICDs were diagnosed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) and were excluded if they had any psychiatric diagnosis prior to ICD implantation. Depression and anxiety were evaluated using the HAM-D and HAM-A rating scales and their attitude towards the ICD using a visual analog scale (VAS). Ninety five ICD patients with mean age of 66 years (±11.5) were recruited, 80 (84%) were men.

Four (4%) patients were diagnosed with new-onset MDD and one patient (1%) with anxiety. Twenty seven (28%) were found to have significant depressive symptoms (HAM-D >8), without MDD diagnosis; half of them attributing these symptoms to the device. Seven (8%) patients experienced phantom shocks and had relatively higher depressive scores (HAM-D 10.3 vs. 5.8; F = 3.696; p = 0.058). The MDD rates in our study were rather consistent with those reported for cardiac patients.

We suggest that ICD contributed little, if any, additional depressive or anxiety symptoms after implantation. We found that the overall attitude towards the device was positive and that shocks and phantom shocks were related to depressive symptoms.