[Psychological adjustment in patients with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator: primary prevention and...

The implantation of the Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) influences the psychological adjustment and the degree of subjective discomfort. The objective of this work was to analyze differences in psychological adjustment, fear of shocks and the degree of subjective discomfort derived from the illness depending on the reasons for implantation (primary vs secondary).

A sample of 82 patients with an ICD, for primary (58.5%) or secondary (41.5%) prevention indications was studied. A sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire and List of Brief Symptoms (LBS-50) was used. Descriptive univariate and bivariate analysis, t-tests on mean differences for independent samples and z-tests on proportion differences were performed.

Regarding psychological adjustment, 43.9% of the patients reported to have sleeping disorder, regardless the type of prevention. A greater percentage of patients of primary prevention had scored higher in clinical scales. The 29.4% of patients with secondary prevention reported to be afraid of experiencing some shock. The 25% of patients whose type of prevention was primary showed severe or moderate level of subjective discomfort derived from the illness compared with the 14.7% of the secondary prevention patients (p=0.7).

The patients with an ICD show symptoms clinically significant in Psychoactivity, Obsession-Compulsion, Anxiety, Somatization, Sleeping disorders and Psychopathology Risk Index. Both groups, regardless the type of prevention showed a similar psychological adjustment. Regarding the fear of shocks and the degree of subjective discomfort derived from the illness, no statistically significant differences between the groups were found.