Do Psychosocial Factors Have Any Impact on Outcomes After Left Ventricular Assist Device Implantation?

Psychosocial factors have been show to impact survival and outcomes in a number of different diseases, including heart failure and patients receiving heart transplantation. With the increasing utilization of these devices, it is important to identify risk factors that could impact post-left ventricular assist device (LVAD) outcomes. This study was a single center, retrospective analysis of 238 patients who underwent implantation of a LVAD between July 27, 2004, and July 21, 2016, at The University of Nebraska Medical Center. Data collected include length of stay, number of readmission, alive status at 30 days, 180 days, and 1 year, as well as multiple psychosocial factors including history of drug abuse, history of alcohol abuse, history of noncompliance, history of anxiety, and history of depression, among others. Outcomes were calculated using univariate and multivariate analyses with SAS Version 9.4. None of the psychosocial factors assessed in this study showed statistical significance in predicting 30 day or 6 month mortality, but patients who smoked at the time of admission for LVAD implantation had higher mortality at 1 year (odds ratio 4.6, 95% confidence interval, 1.226–15.898, p = 0.011.) Patients with a diagnosis of depression had higher numbers of readmissions compared with those without depression (p = 0.048) with the number of readmissions further increased in patients with a diagnosis of both depression and anxiety (p = 0.0074). Psychosocial determinants do not appear to have a significant effect on mortality, but can result in increased risk of readmission if not adequately addressed before implantation and continually monitored postimplantation.