Age-related variations in patient concerns: A text-mining analysis of nursing records in catheter ablation cases

Healthcare workers should empathize with the concerns of patients undergoing invasive treatments, but no studies have analyzed and characterized the language and expressions of these patients. This study utilized text mining to objectively evaluate the words used by patients undergoing catheter ablation.

Text mining was done for nursing records from a newly established catheter ablation facility, encompassing 80 379 characters from 34 consecutive patients, and the resulting data was represented visually.

The study population had an average age of 75 years, and 41.2% were female. Catheter ablation was performed for atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter in 93.9% and 6.1% of cases, respectively. Significant diversity was seen in the subjective descriptions in the nursing records. Notably, in patients aged over 80 years, preoperative records frequently included caregiving-related terms (e.g., "denture" and "toilet").

Text mining of nursing records from patients undergoing catheter ablation revealed that patients' concerns varied significantly by age. Specifically, older patients expressed stronger preoperative and postoperative concerns related to caregiving. This study highlights the importance of providing age-appropriate nursing care, with objective evidence underscoring the specific needs of older patients. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2025; 25: 1097-1107.