Supraventricular tachycardia and catheter ablation: Anxiety levels and patient perceptions

Aim: To investigate anxiety levels and patient perception associated with supraventricular tachycardia (SVT); investigate anxiety levels and patient perception pre- and post- radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA); and explore any association between anxiety and patient perception with patient age and gender.Design: Follow-up quantitative and qualitative cohort study. 141 patients in a tertiary centre in Scotland who underwent an electrophysiological study and RFCA for atrioventricular nodal re-entrant tachycardia, atrioventricular re-entrant tachycardia or atrial tachycardia between 2009 and 2012 were enrolled. 59 (41.8%) were male; mean age at follow-up was 50 years.Interventions: Follow-up by structured phone questionnaire; mean follow-up period was 14 months. Main outcome measures: Anxiety level and patient perception during index episode, and anxiety level before and after RFCA.Results: During index episode, median patient anxiety, on a scale of 0–10, was 8. Anxiety was not associated with gender (p = 0.07). Patients in the lowest and highest anxiety groups tended to be older (mean 54.5 and 44.4 years respectively) compared with those in the middle 2 groups (mean 34.1 and 35.6 years). There was an association between anxiety and age (p = 0.039). 45 (32.0%) participants thought they were having a heart attack or dying. Before RFCA, median anxiety level was 7. 55 (39.0%) patients were afraid of complications, 21 (14.9%) patients feared being awake during RFCA. After RFCA, median anxiety was 2.5.Conclusions: Anxiety is a common accompaniment to SVT that may lead to greater pre-procedural anxiety. Exploring this link may allow reduction of anxiety via better psychopharmacological intervention, education, and preprocedural counselling.