Abstract

An ICD in the pediatric patient (and the precipitating events that led to ICD placement) can be traumatic for patients and their families and may lead to PTSD.This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of PTSD in pediatric ICD patients and their parents and identify the factors associated with PTSD incidence.Pediatric participants with an ICD ages 8-21 years and parents of youth ages 0-21 years completed surveys that included demographics and PTSD measures. Pediatric participants completed additional psychosocial measures, such as anxiety and depression self-report questionnaires.Fifty youth (30% female) and 43 parents (70% female) completed the measures. Six youth (12%) met the screening criteria for a likely PTSD diagnosis, while 20 parents (47%) met the cutoff for PTSD on the screening measure. Children with PTSD were more likely to have had a secondary prevention ICD (83% vs 17%, p=0.021), meet the clinical cutoff for depression (67% vs 16%, p=.005), and had higher shock anxiety (31.7 vs 17.9, p=0.003) than children without PTSD. Female gender (57% vs 23%, p=0.043) and patient depression (31% vs 5%, p=.042) were associated with PTSD among parents.Parents were found to be more likely to meet the criteria for PTSD than youth. Among youth, PTSD was associated with medical and psychosocial factors whereas PTSD among parents was associated with being female and child depression. Clinic based screenings and management planning of emotional functioning are warranted to address psychological distress in patients and parents.

View details for DOI 10.1016/j.hrthm.2022.06.025

View details for PubMedID 35772698