Frequency of preoperative anxiety in Pakistani surgical patients.

OBJECTIVE To measure the frequency of preoperative anxiety in patients coming to our hospital and to correlate Visual analogue scale (VAS) with State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) questionnaire. METHODS This cross sectional study included 300 ASA I and II adult surgical in-patients admitted over a period of one year. STAI questionnaire and VAS was used as study tools. STAI score of > 44 or VAS score of > or = 50 were considered as significant anxiety. Enrolled patients were visited by primary investigator the day before surgery and patients were asked to fill the STAI questionnaire and VAS score. RESULTS Significant preoperative anxiety was seen in 62% patients (73% females and 42% males). Frequency of anxiety decreased with advancing age but increased with higher educational status. A total of 77% of patients with no previous exposure to surgery and 26% of patients who had previous surgery, were anxious. Also 49% of patients who had visited the clinic and 86% of patients who had not visited the clinic were anxious. VAS correlated with STAI in 90% cases. Cut off value of VAS which showed positive correlation with STAI was 45. CONCLUSION Frequency of preoperative anxiety was 62%. Female gender, younger age and higher educational status were positively correlated while prior experience of surgery while preoperative anaesthesia clinic visit were negatively correlated with anxiety. VAS correlated well with STAI.