A comparative study of uncertainty, optimism and anxiety in patients receiving their first implantable defibrillator for primary or secondary prevention of sudden cardiac death

BACKGROUND: Increasingly, patients are receiving implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) for prevention of sudden cardiac death. ICDs are implanted for primary prevention (patients at risk for ventricular arrhythmia [PP]) and secondary prevention (patients who have had/survived a sustained ventricular arrhythmia or cardiac arrest [SP]). Few prospective studies have examined psychosocial factors associated with these patients. OBJECTIVES: …