Elderly Heart Patients With ICD Devices Live Longer After Heart Failure, Study Shows
Saturday, May 3, 2008 - 21:21
in Health & Medicine
Elderly patients diagnosed with congestive heart failure who receive implantable cardioverter-defibrillators for primary prevention of sudden cardiac death live longer than those that do not. Further, the health care costs associated with ICDs, while substantial at the time of implantation, do not greatly increase downstream health care costs in this population. The study is among the first to analyze the health outcomes and costs associated with primary prevention ICDs for patients outside of a clinical trial setting.