(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) have been shown to benefit younger heart patients and now the same positive effects are being seen in patients older than 70.

New research from the Mid-America Heart Institute and the University of Missouri at Kansas City reveals ICDs reduce the risk of dying by 30 percent in patients younger than 65, 64 to 74 and in patients 75 and older.

Patients who have damaged heart muscle resulting in diminished pumping action, a condition called left ventricular systolic dysfunction, are good candidates for an ICD to prevent death from arrhythmias. An ICD is implanted under the skin and connected to the heart muscle by electrodes and automatically shocks the heart back into normal rhythm when it detects life-threatening rhythms.

Researchers studied 986 patients who had diminished left ventricular function, 500 of whom received an ICD. The median age of the patients studied was 67, seven years older than participants in an earlier study investigating the use of ICDs in patients with heart failure. Overall, 13.7 percent of patients who did not receive an ICD died because of arrhythmia compared to 9.8 percent in the group that received an ICD.

Study authors noted this was one of the first studies to examine whether the benefits of ICDs from controlled clinical trials apply to real-world patients. 

SOURCE: Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, 2009

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