Different Impacts of Atrial Fibrillation and Cardiac Premature Contractions on the Health-Related Quality of Life in Elderly People: The Yilan Study

Different Impacts of Atrial Fibrillation and Cardiac Premature Contractions on the Health-Related Quality of Life in Elderly People: The Yilan Study

NAI-WEI HSU,^1,2 HSUAN-MING TSAO,^1,2 HSI-CHUNG CHEN,³ SU-SHUN LO,^2,4 SHIH-ANN CHEN⁵ and PESUS CHOU⁶

¹Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, National Yang-Ming University Hospital, Yilan, Yilan, Taiwan
²Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
³Department of Psychiatry and Center of Sleep Disorders, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
⁴Department of Surgery, National Yang-Ming University Hospital, Yilan, Yilan, Taiwan
⁵Cardiovascular Research Center, Taipei Veterans General Hospital and National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
⁶Community Medicine Research Center and Institute of Public Health, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is currently recognized as one of the most common cardiac arrhythmias worldwide, with the increasing prevalence that has been estimated to be as high as 9% among the elderly. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) has become an important patient-centered health outcome measurement, but the impacts created by AF and other arrhythmias with similar symptoms, such as frequent atrial and ventricular premature contractions (APCs and VPCs, defined as ge; 3 beats/5 minutes), have not been extensively evaluated. The Yilan Study is a population-based community health survey, which in part aims to evaluate the prevalence and impacts of these arrhythmias on the HRQoL in a community dwelling elderly population. A total of 1,732 citizens from the Yilan, Taiwan, aged 65 years or older (45.8% male) were enrolled and visited at their homes, where HRQoL was measured utilizing the Short Form-12 Health Survey. Each participant's heart rhythm was recorded with an electrocardiographic monitor for 5 minutes. The results disclosed that the prevalence of AF of this aged population was 5.8%, similar to the mean global prevalence. Besides, the prevalence of frequent APCs and frequent VPCs in these elderly people were 7.1% and 5.5%, respectively. After multiple regression analysis, elderly people with AF had lower scores in the physical component of HRQoL, while those elderly people with frequent VPCs had lower scores in the mental component. Ultimately, these findings can provide additional useful and population-specific information about AF, and assist medical professionals in designing more effective strategies for cardiac arrhythmia treatments.

keywords —— Keywords: atrial fibrillation; cardiac arrhythmia; health-related quality of life; premature contraction; prevalence

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2016, 238, 75-83

Correspondence: Pesus Chou, Ph.D., Community Medicine Research Center and Institute of Public Health, National Yang-Ming University, No.155, Sec.2, Linong Street, Taipei 112, Taiwan.

e-mail: pschou@ym.edu.tw