New-onset anxiety and depression are frequently seen after a first-time implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) implant, Danish researchers confirm.
Within the first 2 years, clinical levels of anxiety and depression were recorded in 14.5% and 11.3%, respectively, of patients who had been free of such symptoms prior to receiving the device, Susanne Pedersen, PhD (Odense University Hospital, University of Southern Denmark, Odense), reported recently during the virtual European Heart Rhythm Association Congress 2021.
“The take-home message here is that it is insufficient if we only screen ICD patients [for these symptoms] at baseline,” because these cases would be missed, she said. “And we know that anxiety and depression are risk factors for premature mortality, but also cardiac arrhythmias.”