Social support to elderly pacemaker patients improves device acceptance and quality of life

IntroductionPatient acceptance of cardiac device has been shown to limit their quality of life. Little is known about the impact of social support (SS) on pacemaker (PM) acceptance. The aim of the study is to investigate the level of device acceptance in patients with pacemaker (PM) in the short time and the role of SS related to patients’ PM acceptance.Materials and methodsA total of 62 patients (median age: 76.50 years) seen in two cardiology clinic between June and November 2013 complete the Florida patient acceptance survey (FPAS), the Assessment of quality of life and related events (Aquarel Questionnaire), the Euro quality of life 5 dimension 3 level (EQ-5D-3L) and the Multidimensional scale of perceived social support (MSPSS) before PM implantation, after 7 days and after 30 days from PM implantation.ResultsIn 30 days, the levels of SS and of acceptance of cardiac device and of HRQoL increase. At 7 days, 16 patients have low level of acceptance of cardiac device, decreasing to 3 at 30 days. In particular, in short time patients with low level of FPAS have lower level of SS than patients with high level of acceptance of cardiac device (median of MSPSS total score: 4.75 vs. 5.58; P-value: 0.02). At multivariable analysis, social support is confirmed to influence device acceptance.ConclusionsThe observed significant relationship between SS and patients’ acceptance of PM suggests that SS is an important factor in promoting acceptance of cardiac device in patients with PM.