Effects of physiotherapeutic instructions on anxiety of CABG patients

The coronary artery bypass graft surgery is an option of treatment for cardiovascular diseases, and the patients who underwent such procedure can suffer from preoperative anxiety.

The aim of this study is to verify the effects of physiotherapeutic instructions at the anxiety level on patients undergone coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

Randomized clinical trial, with the sample composed by 51 individuals, 27 on the control group and 24 on the intervention; on which it was assessed the anxiety (Beck Scale for Anxiety) and pain (Visual Analog Scale) levels on the pre- and postoperative period and only the second group received instructions about the surgery procedures and ventilatory exercises. For statistical analysis the Wilcoxon, Mann-Whitney and Spearman tests were used.

The lower anxiety levels were observed in patients that received the intervention on the period before surgery (9.6 +/- 7.2 versus 13.4 +/- 5.9, P=0.02). On the control group, the difference among the anxiety levels before and after the surgery was statistically significant (P= 0.003). The female individuals presented more anxious before the surgery compared to the male ones (P=0.058). It was also verified a relationship between length of stay at hospital and postoperative anxiety (P=0.05), where the more anxious individuals remained more time at the hospital.

Patients oriented and instructed about physiotherapeutic ventilatory exercises and hospital routine, presented their levels of anxiety reduced on the preoperative compared to the control group. However, at the postoperative, both groups presented their anxiety levels reduced without significant difference between them.