Quality of life lower for children with heart devices and parents

 Posted on December 15, 2012 in Defective Medical Devices

Researchers that are from the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center have studied children that either have a pacemaker (40 patients) or an implanted defibrillator (133 patients). The researchers have been assessing the patients' quality of life compared to other children that have congenital heart disease and children that are healthy.

The children in the study, ages 8 to 18 years old, and their parents were each asked to complete a quality of life questionnaire. Children with heart devices and parents who have children with heart devices, when compared to the children and parents without heart devices, were reported to have significantly lower quality of life scores. Similarly, these parents' and children's scores were also lower than the scores for children and parents with children that have more severe heart disease, but no device.

Major factors that affect the quality of life for children, included things like self-perception, self-worth, and athletic capability.

The biggest factor reported as affecting parents' quality of life was their own child's behavior.

The study also found that children that had an implantable defibrillator more often had a lower quality of life score than the children that had pacemakers.

Richard J. Czosek, M.D., the author of the study and an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Heart Institute in Ohio, said that, “These findings should encourage us to consider the negative impacts of devices, particularly defibrillators, on pediatric patients; and to develop strategies to mitigate these affects.” Dr. Czosek added that whether or not the effects on the quality of life can be reduced through the use of psychotherapy needs to be assessed.

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