QUALITY OF LIFE OF PATIENTS WITH IMPLANTED CARDIAC PACEMAKERS IN NORTH WEST OF IRAN

INTRODUCTION: Introducing a foreign body into the heart, a part of the human anatomy that symbolically represents emotions, is a major life event which may result in a change in the body image, changes in physical and emotional wellbeing and quality of life. METHODS: In a descriptive study in Fall 2006, 78 out of 267 patients with implanted cardiac pacemakers (PPM) were randomly evaluated by using a quality of life questionnaire for patients published by Salud Co. Data entry and analysis were done by SPSS 11.5. RESULTS: Thirty-two men and 46 women with mean ages of 67.4 and 66.7 years, respectively, were included in the study. Thirty-six patients had single chamber VVIR, 15 had dual chamber VDD and 27 had dual chamber DDDR PPM implanted. Scores of physical and emotional wellbeing were grater than 75, but those of social/family and functional wellbeing were lower than 50 in the majority of patients. Except for a few questions, there was no significant difference between patients with single or dual chamber PPM in terms of quality of life (P=0.34). CONCLUSIONS: Quality of life of patients with PPM is good in respect of physical and emotional wellbeing. However, the results were not desirable in terms of family/social and functional wellbeing. Thus, family and social educational programs are recommended.