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Factors Associated with High Preoperative Anxiety: Results from Cluster Analysis

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Abstract

Background

Preoperative anxiety is a common patients’ reaction related to serious adverse events post-operatively. The aim was to explore the characteristics of cardiac surgery patients experiencing high preoperative anxiety.

Methods

A total of 127 patients (mean age 64.48 years; 34.6% women) assessed their level of anxiety while waiting for surgery, need for information, depression and illness perception with the use of Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale, Visual Analogue Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire, respectively. Clinical and socio-demographic data were gathered using structured interview and medical files review. K-means and hierarchical cluster analyses were performed. α 0.05 was considered significant.

Results

The analysis revealed two different clusters: Cluster 1 involved 46 patients (36.2%; mean age 58.91); Cluster 2 involved 81 patients (63.8%; mean age 67.65). Patients from Cluster 2 had significantly higher anxiety on the day prior to surgery (12.09 vs. 7.93), at a decision stage (6.16 vs. 3.85) and during prehospitalization week (8.01 vs. 4.41). These patients also had more negative illness perception (43.84 vs. 28.35), depressive symptoms (4.9 vs. 2.5) and higher information desire (6.68 vs. 5.54) than patients from Cluster 1. Female sex and planned combined surgery were additional contributors to higher anxiety.

Conclusions

Patients scheduled for cardiac surgery experienced high anxiety throughout the presurgery period. Early intervention addressing not only anxiety but also illness perception and depressive symptoms seems vital. The results can be helpful in planning tailored, needs-based psycho-educational intervention which might improve patients’ preoperative psychological state.

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Funding

This work was not supported by any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiac Surgery, Florian Ceynowa Specialist Hospital, Dr. Jagalski Str. 10, 84-200, Wejherowo, Poland

    Krzysztof Jarmoszewicz, Katarzyna Nowicka-Sauer, Adam Zemła & Sebastian Beta

  2. Department of Family Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland

    Katarzyna Nowicka-Sauer

Authors
  1. Krzysztof Jarmoszewicz
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  2. Katarzyna Nowicka-Sauer
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  3. Adam Zemła
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  4. Sebastian Beta
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Correspondence to Krzysztof Jarmoszewicz.

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The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The present study was approved by Independent Bioethics Commission for Research of the Medical University of Gdańsk.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Jarmoszewicz, K., Nowicka-Sauer, K., Zemła, A. et al. Factors Associated with High Preoperative Anxiety: Results from Cluster Analysis. World J Surg 44, 2162–2169 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-020-05453-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-020-05453-x

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