Abstract
Preoperative anxiety has been studied in different medical disciplines, but it is unknown in minor surgical procedures such as foot nail surgery. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of preoperative anxiety and postoperative pain in foot nail surgery. The validated Amsterdam preoperative anxiety and information scale (APAIS) was used to evaluate preoperative anxiety and the need for information in 155 patients undergoing foot nail surgery. In addition, a questionnaire was used to collect other variables such as age, sex and educational level. The verbal numeric scale was employed to value the postoperative pain after 24 h. Age and sex influenced (p < 0.05) preoperative anxiety, which had a prevalence of 22.6%. More than 43% of patients needed more information and this was correlated with anxiety (r = 0.629; p < 0.001). There was a significant difference when comparing the total anxiety between the group of participants who had more pain and that who had less pain (p < 0.001). The prevalence of anxiety was high in the participants of this study, being greater in young patients and in women. There was a deficit of information, increasing the level of preoperative anxiety, which in turn was related with greater postoperative pain.
Highlights
Surgery is a stressful event that is frequently associated with anxiety in most patients
There was a deficit of information, increasing the level of preoperative anxiety, which in turn was related with greater postoperative pain
The main aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of preoperative anxiety in foot nail surgery and the level of the patient’s demand for information
Summary
Surgery is a stressful event that is frequently associated with anxiety in most patients. Preoperative anxiety is a response that is expected and is associated with emotional and physical problems [1,2]. It can negatively influence both the intraoperative moment (for example, with a rise in blood pressure which can affect the surgery and increase complications [3]) and the postoperative moment, such as pain [4,5]. Surgeons may tend to underestimate the patients’ anxiety [6] and can disregard that the moment prior to surgery, in the waiting room, can be a stressful event for them. The complexity of the surgery, the anesthesia, the postoperative pain, not being appropriately informed and sociodemographic or psychosocial characteristics of the patient have been reported [7]
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