For children with pacemakers, 'self-competence' affects quality of life
Thursday, July 10, 2014 - 20:31
in Health & Medicine
For children and teens living with a cardiac pacemaker, a low sense of self-competence seems to contribute to decreased quality of life, reports a study. For children with cardiac arrhythmias, pacemaker implantation is a standard treatment that leads to positive health outcomes. As survival improves for infants with congenital heart abnormalities, more children are living with pacemakers, which may affect their lives in many ways. However, these children may have to limit their physical activity level. They may have scars and a visible chest bulge, and may require repeated surgeries.