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Updated: Jun 30, 2025
Measuring Cardiac Autonomic Nervous System ANS Activity in Children
Published on: April 29, 2013
Do children with asymptomatic ventricular preexcitation have similar quality of life as healthy children?
Emilia Szafran1, Michał Bartecki2, Anna Bukowska-Posadzy3
1Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland. eszafran@ump.edu.pl.
Insights
Children with asymptomatic Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome reported lower health satisfaction and more symptoms like palpitations, sadness, and nervousness compared to healthy peers. Quality of life (QoL) was similar overall, but specific physical and psychological aspects were affected.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Cardiology
- Quality of Life Research
- Electrophysiology
Background:
- Quality of life (QoL) in asymptomatic children with preexcitation patterns is understudied.
- Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome is a common preexcitation syndrome.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the quality of life (QoL) in children diagnosed with asymptomatic Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome.
- To compare the QoL of children with asymptomatic WPW syndrome to healthy children.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional study involving 31 children with asymptomatic WPW syndrome and 82 healthy controls.
- QoL assessment using the WHOQOL-BREF and a novel Pediatric Arrhythmia Related Score (PARS) questionnaire.
- PARS questionnaire captures patient-reported feelings and observations related to arrhythmia.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in overall QoL satisfaction between WPW and control groups.
- WPW children reported significantly lower general satisfaction with their health condition (P = 0.01).
- WPW children experienced more palpitations (P <0.001), sadness (P = 0.046), and nervousness (P = 0.04) than controls.
Conclusions:
- Children with asymptomatic WPW syndrome exhibit greater dissatisfaction with their health compared to healthy children.
- While overall QoL satisfaction is comparable, specific physical and psychological QoL domains are negatively impacted in WPW patients.
- The PARS questionnaire is validated as a valuable disease-specific QoL instrument for clinical decision-making in pediatric arrhythmia management.
Background:
To our knowledge, no studies have assessed quality of life (QoL) in asymptomatic children with a preexcitation electrocardiogram pattern.
Aim:
To evaluate the QoL of children with asymptomatic Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome.
Methods:
This study involved QoL assessment of 31 children with asymptomatic preexcitation and 82 healthy children using the WHOQOL-BREF and the Pediatric Arrhythmia Related Score (PARS), a specific questionnaire that we have developed, which is related to patients' feelings and observations concerning arrhythmia.
Results:
There were no significant differences between the two groups in all the measured domains; however, there were significant differences regarding general satisfaction with their health condition (P = 0.01). There were no differences in general satisfaction with the QoL, but WPW children more often experienced palpitations than the control group (P <0.001) and were more likely to feel sad (P = 0.046) and nervous (P = 0.04) compared to healthy children.
Conclusions:
The children with WPW were more dissatisfied with their health compared to healthy children. Although both groups of children had similar levels of satisfaction with their QoL, some areas of physical and psychological parameters of QoL were worse in WPW children. The PARS questionnaire is a useful tool as a disease-specific QoL instrument, which supplements the general questionnaire and aids in clinical practice and decision-making.
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