Polikandrioti Maria, Tzirogiannis Konstantinos, Zyga Sofia, Koutelekos Ioannis, Vasilopoulos Georgios, Theofilou Paraskevi, Panoutsopoulos George
Faculty of Health and Caring Professions, Department of Nursing, Technological Educational Institute, Athens, Greece.
Laboratory of Physiology and Pharmacology, Department of Nursing, Faculty of Human Movement and Quality of Life Sciences, University of Peloponnese, Sparta Lakonias, Greece.
Arch Med Sci Atheroscler Dis. 2018 Feb 5;3:e8-e17. doi: 10.5114/amsad.2018.73231. eCollection 2018.
Permanent cardiac pacemakers (PPM) are the most common treatment for severe symptomatic bradycardia. This implanted life-saving device may involve a severe psychological burden to recipients or aggravate their symptoms such as fatigue. The aim of the study was to explore the effect of anxiety and depression on fatigue of patients' with a PPM.
The study group consisted of 250 patients with a PPM. Data collected included: a) patients' characteristics, b) the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and c) the Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS).
High levels of anxiety and depression were observed in 27.2% and 14.0% of the sample, respectively. Regarding the fatigue total score it was found that 25% of the participants had a score higher than 26. Accordingly, with regard to physical and mental fatigue, 25% of enrolled patients had a score higher than 20 and 8, respectively. These values indicate moderate to low levels of fatigue. Furthermore, there was a statistically significant association between anxiety/depression and the total score of fatigue as well as between anxiety/depression and physical and mental fatigue ( < 0.001 for all associations).
Socio-demographic and patients' clinical characteristics are related to anxiety and depression. Understanding the association between psychological burden and fatigue after implantation as well as factors associated with these variables will help health professionals to provide beneficial care for PPM patients that will significantly contribute to better device outcomes.
永久性心脏起搏器（PPM）是治疗严重症状性心动过缓最常用的方法。这种植入式救生设备可能会给接受者带来严重的心理负担，或加重他们的疲劳等症状。本研究的目的是探讨焦虑和抑郁对PPM患者疲劳的影响。
研究组由250例PPM患者组成。收集的数据包括：a）患者特征，b）医院焦虑抑郁量表（HADS）和c）疲劳评估量表（FAS）。
分别有27.2%和14.0%的样本存在高水平的焦虑和抑郁。关于疲劳总分，发现25%的参与者得分高于26。因此，在身体和精神疲劳方面，分别有25%的入选患者得分高于20和8。这些值表明疲劳程度为中度至低度。此外，焦虑/抑郁与疲劳总分之间以及焦虑/抑郁与身体和精神疲劳之间存在统计学上的显著关联（所有关联的P<0.001）。
社会人口统计学和患者的临床特征与焦虑和抑郁有关。了解植入后心理负担与疲劳之间的关联以及与这些变量相关的因素，将有助于医护人员为PPM患者提供有益的护理，这将显著有助于获得更好的设备治疗效果。
