Sample
Inclusion criteria were age (>18 years) and having an
implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD), a subcutaneous ICD (S-ICD), or
cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D). All patients
were enrolled in different remote monitoring systems, according to
manufacturer technology, which allows physicians to access on a secured
web site to patients’ data. Patients were considered eligible for
analysis if available device stored data covered at least 1 months
within the study period. Data from the remote-monitoring system were
deidentified before analysis. Patient population was characterized using
demographic data including age, gender, device model, reason for
implantation, previous history of anti-tachycardia therapy (shocks or
ATP), anti-tachycardia programming. Among 839 patients with an implanted
cardiac device followed up with remote monitoring at the enrolling
Institution on April 5th 2020, 563 had ICD, S-ICD or
CRT-D. We excluded 26 patients due to: limited follow-up during study
timeframe (21 patients), unavailable data at remote monitoring (5
patients) or implantation after the study period (77 patients, see
Figure 1). The final cohort consisted of 455 patients.
The study was approved by the institutional review board at the
enrolling Institution. Every participant gave informed consent for such
analysis during hospitalization for device implant or replacement.
— Figure 1 —