Measuring the impact of atrial fibrillation on patients
Abstract
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia. Patients experience the effects of AF from early symptom onset to treatment and beyond. A previous qualitative study found AF to substantially affect patients’ emotional wellbeing, social relationships, employment, and finances. Existing quality of life questionnaires do not adequately assess the AF impact. In this thesis, a new patient-reported questionnaire was developed to measure the impact of AF as experienced by patients. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the new questionnaire, revealing five domains: “Affect”, “Social Support”, “Major Life Events”, “Financial Impact”, and “Diagnostic Experience”. Age, marital status, educational attainment, and time of last episode were significantly associated with the overall score. Female gender was associated with a worse diagnostic experience after adjusting for covariates, confirming previous qualitative findings. The new questionnaire has good internal consistency and can be used to study variables associated with the AF impact.