Comparison of the Accuracy of two Instruments of Cortisol Level and a Questionnaire in Diagnosing the Level of Preoperative Anxiety in Patients who are Candidates for Thyroidectomy Surgery: A Randomised Clinical Trial

Diagnosing the level of anxiety of patients before surgery can reduce many challenges during and after the operation. Therefore it is necessary to use tools that have high accuracy in diagnosing the level of anxiety. The present study was designed with the aim of comparing the accuracy of two instruments of cortisol level and anxiety measurement questionnaire in diagnosing the level of preoperative anxiety in patients who were candidates for thyroidectomy surgery.

The current clinical trial study was designed to compare the accuracy of two preoperative anxiety measurement tools in thyroidectomy patients in 2019. The selection of samples was done by available sampling method with random allocation through blocks of four. In the test group, awareness was given through peers, and in the control group, routine care was provided. Before and after the intervention, Spielberger questionnaire was completed and salivary cortisol measurement was done for 78 people (39 people in the test group and 39 people in the control group) by patients admitted to Valiasr General Surgery Department and Cancer Institute of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran.

The independent t-test showed that the amount of salivary cortisol after the intervention in the test group was significantly lower than the control group (p<0.001), while the Spielberger questionnaire did not show a significant difference between the anxiety scores of the two groups after the intervention (p=0.397)

Since cortisol is not affected by situational factors, it is a more accurate tool than the questionnaire to measure anxiety. However, it is recommended to use a combination of physiological and chemical tools in order to measure the level of anxiety.