Preoperative Anxiety and Its Determinants Among Patients Scheduled for Major Surgery: A Hospital Based Study

Surgery is considered as a life threatening or a major concern that need significant psychological adaptation whether it be a major or a minor one. Pre-operative period is a stressful event that triggers specific emotional, cognitive and physiological response of a patient. Anxiety during this period is determined by various factors that need to be considered by a anesthesiologists and the team. A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted to assess the prevalence and determinants of pre-operative anxiety among adult patients scheduled for major surgery in a teaching hospital at Parsa district, Nepal using State and trait inventory (STAI) and a checklist prepared to assess the determinants of anxiety. The obtained data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS 16 version. The result of the study revealed that 38.2% of the patients were in the age group of 29-38 years. Among total patient studied 85.3% were scheduled for elective surgery. The mean anxiety score was 44.25±5.97. Majority 70.6% had preoperative anxiety at moderate level. The level of anxiety was significantly associated with age and type of surgery at (p value 0.030) and (p value (0.028) respectively. The major determinants of anxiety were concern about family, financial crises due to surgery, fear of unawakening from anesthesia, and the outcome of surgery. Patient needs to be assessed regularly for anxiety during their pre anesthetic check up by an anesthesiologist thus implementing anxiety reducing activities among the patients