Psychological monitoring should be routine post-ICD, cardiologists say
Adults with ICD shocks were at particular risk of anxiety and depression, researchers found.
Patients who have received implantable cardioverter defibrillators regardless of indication should be closely monitored for mood disorders, results from a large meta-analysis suggest.
Australian cardiologists report that 12% of those with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) had symptoms of PTSD within a year of insertion, compared with a rate of 1-2% in the general population.
Anxiety and depression were also “highly prevalent” — 23% and 15%, respectively — with similar rates reported among patients’ partners.
“Psychological assessment, monitoring and therapy should be offered to ICD patients and their partners as part of routine care,” the doctors wrote in EP Europace.
