[Prevalence of anxiety in the presurgical area]

Anxiety is a complex personal reaction against situations and stimuli that is potentially dangerous or at least perceived as such by the sufferer. Surgery is an important stressing agent, which may cause problems not only for the patient and their family but also for the healthcare system and therefore addressing the anxiety prior to surgery must be a priority.

This research is centered on the prevalence of anxiety in the pre-surgical area of the Royo Villanova Hospital located in Zaragoza, Spain, and the risk factors.

The present study is a transverse descriptive observational study of 100 patients aged between 50 and 95 years. Data collection was carried out in the pre-surgical area by means of a personal interview and a STAI-STADO test.

Out of 100 patients, 45% showed light anxiety, while 34% of the sample showed high or acute anxiety. Statistically significant differences were determined in the levels of anxiety reported between married and non-married patients as well as in the levels of those patients that had not undertaken a previous surgical procedure versus those that had. Both of these groups experienced lower levels of anxiety.

The lack of a partner (widowed or single patients) has been identified as a risk factor for experiencing higher pre-surgical anxiety. Not having experienced any prior surgical procedure has been identified as a protective factor with these patients reporting lower pre-surgical anxiety than those with prior surgical procedures.