Preoperative anxiety among Iranian adult patients undergoing elective surgeries in educational hospitals

Although surgical techniques have been improving, preoperative anxiety is still a challenge in preoperative care and is known as an expected response experienced by patients waiting to undergo surgery. The present study aimed to compare preoperative anxiety levels in three educational hospitals in Kerman.

This cross‑sectional study was conducted in three educational hospitals in Kerman, Iran, from December 2017 to May 2018. The participants were 100 patients from each hospital (300 patients in sum) who were selected through the convenience sampling method. Sampling was not restricted to sex and type of surgery. The 40‑item Spielberger State‑Trait Anxiety Inventory was administered to the patients to assess the level of preoperative anxiety experienced by them. Bivariate linear regression models were used to compare the preoperative state anxiety levels based on the patients’ demographic information. A multivariate linear regression model was used to determine the predictors of preoperative state anxiety.

The participants were 149 males and 151 females with a mean age of 36.38 (12.75) years (age range: 12–79 years). Almost two‑third of the patients showed upper‑middle symptoms of state anxiety (n = 197, 65.7%) followed by upper‑middle symptoms of trait anxiety (40% and 49.3%, respectively). There was a significant relationship between the patient’s sex and state anxiety (P = 0.05) and also between trait anxiety and state anxiety (P ≤ 0.001). It was shown that train anxiety could predict state anxiety before surgery (B: 0.53, 95% confidence interval: 0.44, 0.62; P ≤ 0.001).

The results of the present study confirmed the presence of preoperative anxiety in a sample of Iranian patients. Although the anxiety scores were not very high, organizing intervention and training programs to control and reduce preoperative anxiety among patients seems essential.