Sexual Quality of Life in Left Ventricular Assist Device Patients and Their Partners

Living with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) comes with potentially burdensome aspects posed by, for example, battery packs and device drivelines. We aim to describe the impact of living with a durable LVAD on sexual quality of life (QOL), depression, and anxiety in patients and their partners.

In this single-center, prospective, observational study, patients ≥4 months after LVAD implantation and their partners completed the Sexual Activities in Left Ventricular Assist Device Patients or Partners questionnaire to assess their sexual QOL, the 8-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8) to assess symptoms of depression and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) to assess symptoms of anxiety. Sixty patients and 60 partners completed the questionnaires 2.3 ± 1.9 years after implantation. Eighty-seven percent of the patients and 13% of partners were male. The mean age of patients was 57.4 ± 13.3 years, with 90% living with their partner. Ten percent of patients and 18% of partners had a current diagnosis of a psychological condition, most frequently depression and/or anxiety. Overall, 49% of participants indicated the LVAD influenced their sexual activity (patients 53% vs partners 45%; P = .33). Disturbances from the driveline were the most common problem indicated. Twenty-four percent of participants had scored in the mild to moderate depression range on the PHQ-8 and 28% scored in the mild to severe anxiety range on the GAD-7. The median total GAD-7 (1 [interquartile range (IQR) 0-4.25] vs 2.5 [IQR 0-5]; P = .06) were comparable between patients and partners; whereas patients had a higher total PHQ-8 score (3 [IQR 0-5.25] vs 1 [IQR 0-3.25]; P = .02). A preference to receive information regarding sexuality while on LVAD support was indicated by 54% of participants and did not differ between patients and partners (P > .99). Written resources were the most commonly preferred source of information.

LVADs severely affect the sexual QOL for patients and their partners. The presence of a driveline is a major cause for concern. Patients prefer receiving written information on how to improve their sexual QOL.