Evaluation using the Umea 22 questionnaire of quality of life among patients with atrioventricular nodal tachycardia undergoing successful radiofrequency ablation treatment

OBJECTIVE
Atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) attacks is one of the common arrhythmias adversely affecting quality of life. The Umea 22 (U22) is a questionnaire developed for the assessment of symptoms associated with supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), and it is found to be effective in evaluation of quality of life after radiofrequency ablation. Using this questionnaire, the study aimed to assess quality of life among Turkish patients with ANRT before and after the successful RFA.

METHODS
The study was conducted between January 2011 and September 2013, and included 57 patients who had undergone RFA due to AVNRT. The U22 questionnaire was administered pre-procedure and at 6 months post-procedure. The participants were asked to report on their general wellbeing, arrhythmia effects on their wellbeing, and intensity of discomfort associated with episodes. They were asked to provide a score from 1 to 10 in order to determine to severity of discomfort, and the quantity of symptoms was then assessed according to the visual analogue scale (VAS).

RESULTS
Patients’ general wellbeing (7.5±2.3 vs. 8.7±1.8, p<0.001), the effects of arrhythmia episodes on general wellbeing (8.1±1.7 vs. 1.0±2.1, p<0.001), frequency of symptoms (2.8±0.8 vs. 0.4±0.9, p<0.001) and duration of symptoms were reduced significantly after RFA. The rate of drug use among patients also decreased after RFA (70% vs. 23%, p=0.017).

CONCLUSION
Treatment success was high in patients undergoing RFA due to AVNRT according to the U22 quality of life questionnaire. General and arrhythmia-associated quality of life had improved significantly by the 6th month post-procedure.