Abstract
Evaluation of Preoperative Anxiety among Surgical Patients in Indian Tertiary Care Hospital
Author(s): Abhishek H N, Chiranshi D Shah, Kirtish Acharya, Jain Roma, Rajat Garg, Mohamed Nidhal S* and Akshaya N. ShettiThe evaluation of preoperative anxiety among surgical patients is crucial in ensuring their overall well-being and optimizing surgical outcomes.
Aim: To assess the prevalence and severity of preoperative anxiety among surgical patients. To identify the factors contributing to preoperative anxiety.
Materials and methodology: Between November 2022 and April 2023, a total of 1021 surgical patients above 18 years old were evaluated for preoperative anxiety using the PPAAS during the pre-anesthesia check. Pediatric patients and those requiring emergency surgery were excluded.
Results: Among the patients, 53% were male. The majority of patients (43.7%) fell within the 25 years-49 years age group, while 32% were classified as illiterate. General surgery represented the largest surgical specialty (35.7%), and 80.1% underwent major surgeries. Concerns regarding anesthesia, surgery, complications, postoperative pain, and surgery cancellation were reported by varying proportions of patients. Notably, 51.8% of patients were not worried about anesthesia, while 44.9% expressed concerns about the surgery itself. Furthermore, 47.3% of patients reported anxiety related to surgical complications, and 44.2% were worried about postoperative pain. Additionally, 52.2% expressed concerns about the possibility of surgery cancellation. Most patients had PPAAS scores ranging from 0 to 5.
Conclusion: PPAAS is an effective screening tool for assessing preoperative anxiety and should be considered for all elective surgeries. An effective counselling or pharmacotherapy should be considered if the anxiety level is higher for a better outcome.