The Effect of Anti-anxiety Medications on the Clinical Symptoms of Anal Fissure: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract

Background: Fissure is a common chronic anorectal disease that causes symptoms such as pain, burning, bleeding, and psychiatric problems. One of the psychiatric complications is anxiety, which might be an etiologic factor or secondary to the disease. Materials and Methods: A total of 160 patients with anal fissure were randomly divided into two groups (80 patients treated with anti-anxiety medications along with standard anal fissure treatment and 80 patients with standard anal fissure treatment alone) after obtaining patient consent and demographic data. Then, the symptoms have recorded after treatment. Results: The results of our study indicated that the administration of anti-anxiety medications in patients with anal fissures relieved pain and anxiety scores among all patients. The anti-anxiety medications were more effective on patients younger than 40 years, men with less than two weeks duration of illness, and baseline anxiety greater than 26. Conclusion: A high prevalence of anal fissures affects the quality of life of patients. Besides the lack of effective treatment that shortens the pain and recovers patients faster, anti-anxiety medications such as benzodiazepines can use along with standard anal fissure treatment to reduce pain and anxiety in patients with acute anal fissure.