Changes in stress level during preoperative and postoperative period

Abstract

The aim of this investigation was to find out the effects of so called preoperative and postoperative stress on some psychophysiological variables on a group of patients. It is reasonable to assume that by the approdi of a surgical operation, the level of anxiety, high activation, pulse rate and patient’s assessment of the gravity of his operation, will increase, which could be taken as an indication of the stress increase. A group of 10 patients, 42 to 69 years of age, expecting an operation of hernia or gall bladder, took part in this investigation, which included measurements of anxiety, high activation (stress), pulse rate and the assessment of gravity of his/her operation, seven days before, one day before and t wo hours before the operation, as well as seven days after the operation. The measurements were taken by standard procedures, while the patients assessed the gravity of the operation on Borg’s scale. The results showed changes in all the variables, i.e. the preoperative stress together with the patients’ assessment of the gravity of operation were increasing as the day of the operation approched. Contrary to this, during the postoperative period, the level of these variables showed a decrease, which was associated with a feeling of “relief’ and a decrease in stress. This study showed that the used variables were good indicators of preoperative and postoperative levels of stress. Nevertheless, these variables could not be used as predictors of postoperative recovery, because of the lack of a reliable definition of the criterion variable.