title: Stability and cause of anxiety in patients with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator: a longitudinal two-year follow-up.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Several investigations have found that anxiety disorders often develop in patients with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). This study investigated the inter--and intraindividual stability of anxiety and its relation to ICD activity in patients with an ICD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Changes in the psychopathology of 35 patients with an ICD were assessed at the beginning of the trial period and 2.5 years later. Psychometric measures of anxiety were collected. During this period, shocks and antitachycardia pacing were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Anxiety was found to be interindividually stable. We also found a slight, but statistically significant, reduction in trait anxiety and avoidance behavior over time. Patients who experienced shocks or antitachycardia pacing did not differ on psychometric or demographic variables from patients without those events.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Anxiety seems to be interindividually stable in patients with an ICD. We found no connection between anxiety and tachycardia episodes in patients with an ICD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Crössmann
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pauli
authors.forename: Wilhelm
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dengler
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kühlkamp
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wiedemann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000628:therapy; D002304:Cardiac Pacing, Artificial; D017147:Defibrillators, Implantable / Q000523:psychology; D004554:Electric Countershock; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D012107:Research Design; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome