The implantable cardioverter defibrillator in congestive heart failure patients in primary prevention: assessment of neuropsychological impact.

AIM: Cognitive impairment, anxiety and depression have been described in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). The aim was to analyse the prevalence of cognitive impairment and anxiety-depression in an in-hospital CHF population before discharge attempting to correlate with the presence of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD).

METHODS: All subjects underwent a mini mental state examination (MMSE), geriatric depression scale (GDS), hospital anxiety and depression scale test (HADS).

RESULTS: Three-hundred and eighteen CHF patients (age 71.6 years, 195 males) were analysed. The mean New York Heart Association class (NYHA) was 2.9±0.8, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was 43.4±15.8%; brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) plasma level was 579.8±688.4 pg/mL. In 9.6% a pathological MMSE score emerged; a depression of mood in 18.2% and anxiety in 23.4% of patients were observed. An ICD was implanted in 43 (14.2%) CHF patients for primary prevention of cardiac sudden death. Patients in ICD group demonstrated a higher prevalence of renal impairment (creatinine 1.7±0.7 vs. 1.2±0.8 mg/dL; P=0.0001), lower LVEF (24.9±8.9 vs. 46.2±14.6% P=0.0001) and higher BNP (717.1±538 vs. 345.4±448.6 pg/ml; P=0.0001) but similar 6-minute walking test (338.6±81.3 vs. 345.3±114.9 m; P=0.8). An ICD intervention was registered in 9 (20.9%) patients. Although clinical parameters seemed to describe a sicker population in ICD implanted patients, from neuropsychological tests did not emerge any significant differences (P=NS for MMSE, GDS and HADS).

CONCLUSION: ICD-implanted CHF patients for primary prevention did not reveal a worsening in anxiety and depression of mood demonstrating a similar cognitive performance in comparison with non-ICD implanted.