Anxiety in the cardiac catheter laboratory: Importance of the education

Abstract

Anxiety has been shown to lead to high levels of stress and increased length of stay within the hospital. The cardiac catheter laboratory is an unfamiliar environment for most people. It has been demonstrated that a psychoeducational nursing intervention can reduce anxiety. The aim of the study was to evaluate the anxiety of the patients who enter the cathlab. The study prospectively recruited patients waiting for a coronary angiogram in February 2021, in the cardiology department of Habib Thameur Hospital. Patients responded to an anxiety assessment survey (STAI: State and Trait Anxiety Index). We included 100 patients (30 women and 70 men), mean age was 61 ± 9 year. Cardiovascular risk factors were dominated by high blood pressure (65%) and diabetes (54%). The coronary angiography was carried out as part of the exploration of an acute coronary syndrome in 68.8% of cases with an average waiting time of 3 days in the hospital. Among the patients, 30% had high to very high anxiety levels according to the STAI. They were worried about complications and pain. Only fifty-two percent of patients reported receiving pre-intervention information and 65% said they signed consent without reading it. Sixty-seven percent of the patients were satisfied with the staff care. Our results showed a high prevalence of anxiety before a cardiac catheterization exam. This suggests the need to take into consideration the patients worries in order to reduce their anxiety through education.