Association between symptoms, affect and heart rhythm in patients with persistent or paroxysmal atrial fibrillation: an ambulatory pilot study

Am Heart J. 2021 Nov:241:1-5. doi: 10.1016/j.ahj.2021.06.003. Epub 2021 Jun 23.

Abstract

Symptoms in atrial fibrillation are generally assumed to correspond to heart rhythm; however, patient affect - the experience of feelings, emotion or mood - is known to frequently modulate how patients report symptoms but this has not been studied in atrial fibrillation. In this study, we investigated the relationship between affect, symptoms and heart rhythm in patients with paroxysmal or persistent atrial fibrillation. We found that presence of negative affect portended reporting of more severe symptoms to the same or greater extent than heart rhythm.

Publication types

  • Letter
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Affect / physiology
  • Affective Symptoms* / diagnosis
  • Affective Symptoms* / physiopathology
  • Aged
  • Atrial Fibrillation* / physiopathology
  • Atrial Fibrillation* / psychology
  • Chest Pain / etiology
  • Chest Pain / psychology
  • Correlation of Data
  • Cost of Illness*
  • Dyspnea / etiology
  • Dyspnea / psychology
  • Electrocardiography, Ambulatory / methods*
  • Emotions / physiology
  • Female
  • Health Behavior
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Quality of Life*
  • Symptom Assessment* / methods
  • Symptom Assessment* / statistics & numerical data