Introduction: Atrial fibrillation (AF) today, as an arrhythmia with the highest prevalence of about 1-2% in the general population, is associated with a high risk of developing stroke, heart failure, dementia (cognitive impairment) etc. Also, numerous studies have irrefutably linked AF and various depressive/anxiety disorders, as well as the presence of depressive symptoms with an increased perception of the severity of cardiac symptoms and more frequent recurrence of arrhythmias. (1,2) The aim of this study was to examine the frequency of prescribed psychopharmacotherapy in patients hospitalized for electrophysiological (EP) treatment at “Merkur” University Hospital.
Patients and Methods: A retrospective analysis of the medical data base of patients treated in the Electrophysiology Department of “Merkur” University Hospital in the period from June 15, 2020 to December 31, 2021 was performed.
Results: The sum of 205 patients was included (132 men - 64%, 73 women - 36%). The median age was 62 years (ranging from 17 to 79). Of the included patients, on psychopharmaceutical therapy there were 46 patients (22%) and of which only 4 (1.9%) had a psychiatric diagnosis. The proportion of patients with left arrhythmias (paroxysmal and persistent AF and atypical atrial flutter) among patients on psychopharmacotherapy was 50%, but no statistically significant difference was found between left arrhythmias and other types of arrhythmias (all within the common group) (p = 0.463). There was found no association with cardiovascular risk factors (arterial hypertension, hyperlipidemia) nor with sleep apnea syndrome. In contrast, female gender was statistically significantly associated with the use of psychotropic drugs (p = 0.0239). In the statistical analysis, the Fisher’s test was used.
Conclusion: Our results showed a significant presence of psychopharmacotherapy in group of patients with arrhythmias for which they underwent EP treatment. Considering that and evidently psychiatric diagnosis being underdiagnosed, we believe that, in a holistic approach to the treatment, an early multidisciplinary approach with the inclusion of different specialties (family medicine doctors, psychiatrists) is desirable with main aim to improve the wholesome clinical outcome.