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Measuring The Impact Of Atrial Fibrillation On Patients, Justine Chang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

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 …