Anxiety Levels of Children During Electrophysiological Study

Objective: Electrophysiological study (EPS) has been widely used in the diagnosis and treatment of tachycardia. The objective of this study was to determine the anxiety levels in children before EPS procedure. Method: Patients (n=45) who were hospitalized for EPS between March and September of 2019 were included n this cross-sectional study, The patient group consisting of children aged 8-18 years old was compared with age- and sex- matched controls (n=46). We evaluated the severity of anxiety at the time of assessment using the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) scale. The forms were filled out by both children and their parents. Results: The mean age of the patients in the study group consisting of 23 girls and 22 boys was 13.91±2.84 years. Diagnoses of cases treated due to arrhythmia were as follows: atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia (44.4%), atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (31%), ventricular tachycardia (11.2%), sinus tachycardia (8.8%), and atrial flutter (4.4%). Anxiety levels were higher in children who were hospitalized for EPS procedure compared to the control group (p<0.001). Conclusion: As far as we know, our study is the first in Turkey to measure the level of anxiety in children undergoing cardiac EPS due to tachycardia. Electrophysiological study procedure increases anxiety in children. Further studies in which methods to reduce anxiety are needed are studied.