title: Preventing sudden death: implantable cardioverter-defibrillators in elderly cardiac patients.
abstract: Much of the public was introduced to the implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) when Vice President Cheney, a survivor of four heart attacks, received the device in 2001. Although ICDs were initially limited to patients with previous cardiac arrests or arrhythmias, more recent studies have demonstrated that ICDs can prevent sudden cardiac death in patients who have not had a cardiac arrest, but are at greater risk for one (for example, those with congestive heart failure and reduced cardiac function). This Issue Brief summarizes studies that analyze health outcomes, costs, and quality of life for patients-at-risk who receive ICDs in real-life settings.
authors.affiliation: Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA and VA Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, USA.
authors.forename: Peter W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Groeneveld
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000517:prevention & control*; D017147:Defibrillators, Implantable / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006299:Health Services for the Aged; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000601:surgery; D017721:Hospital Costs; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage; D007348:Insurance, Health; D006278:Medicare; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000379:methods*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012307:Risk Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States