Patient and Implanting Physician Factors Associated With Mortality and Complications Following Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator Implantation, 2002-2005: Al-Khatib - Patient and Physician Factors and ICD Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about factors that influence survival and complications following ICD implantation in routine clinical practice. We examined patient and implanting physician factors associated with outcomes of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy in Medicare beneficiaries from 2002 through 2005. METHODS AND RESULTS: We limited this analysis to patients aged 65 or older with Medicare fee-for-service coverage who received an ICD between January 2002 and September 2005. The main outcome measures are time to post-procedural complications within 90 days and 1-year mortality. During the study period, 8581 patients had an ICD implanted by 1959 physicians. The number of procedures increased from 1644 in 2002 to 2374 in the first three quarters of 2005. The overall complication rate declined from 18.8% in 2002 to 14.2% in 2005 (P

Duke Scholars

Author Lesley H. Curtis Population Health Sciences