Evaluation of Anxiety Level and its Related Factors in Patients Undergoing Inguinal Hernia Surgery; A Descriptive-correlation Study

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Surgery is always a great experience for the patient and his family, and anxiety is a natural reaction to surgery. Uncontrolled anxiety leads to adverse consequences such as delayed recovery and increased length of hospitalization and increased treatment costs. Therefore, this study was performed to determine the level of anxiety and its related factors in patients undergoing inguinal hernia surgery in Imam Khomeini Hospital in Mahabad, 2019.

Materials and methods: This was a descriptive-correlative study conducted on 150 patients undergoing inguinal hernia surgery in Imam Khomeini Hospital, Mahabad. Convenience sampling was used. The Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was used to collect data. Data were analyzed by SPSS 25 statistical software using Pearson correlation test.

Results: The results showed that the mean and standard deviation of state and trait anxiety scores of patients undergoing inguinal hernia surgery were 45.85± 7.55 and 50.48 ± 6.68, respectively. Moreover, the results of Pearson correlation test showed that among the demographic variables, gender and age, with trait anxiety scores (P = 0.028, r = 0.011) and state (P = 0.041, r = 0.05), respectively. Also, the residual status has a significant and inverse relationship with the state anxiety scores of patients (P = 0.002, r = -451). There was no statistically significant relationship between patients' anxiety scores with occupational status, level of education, marital status, smoker, and income level.

Conclusions: It can be concluded that preoperative education to patients, in the form of explaining how problems and care they may face and with a simple explanation can prevent their anxiety and thus speed up the chances of recovery and reduced length of hospitalization, hospital costs, and postoperative complications in patients.