State and Trait Anxiety Before and After Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL)

Urolithiasis, as defined by the presence of one or more stones in the urinary tract, is a common disease, affecting up to 20% of the global population. Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) is a minimal invasive intervention for the medical management of urolithiasis. Despite the short duration of this noninvasive procedure, patients may experience anxiety.Purpose of the study was to explore state and trait anxiety before and after ESWL as well as the associated factors.

In the present cross-sectional study, 100 patients who underwent ESWL (60 men and 40 women) in a public hospital during the period 2023-2024 were enrolled. The data collection was carried out via interviews using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) scale which included patients' characteristics.

Of the 100 participants, the majority were men (60%), over 60 years of age (41%) and of secondary education level (47%). The mean value of the two scores was 50.9 for state and 56.1 for trait anxiety before ESWL which indicates moderate anxiety levels. After ESWL, no statistically significant change in state and trait anxiety scores was observed (p = 0.186 and p = 0.387, respectively). A statistically significant association was observed between state anxiety before ESWL and gender (p = 0.048), whether patients had other diseases (p = 0.042), and how well they were informed about ESWL (p = 0.043). Regarding trait anxiety, a statistically significant association was observed with gender (p = 0.018), their profession (p = 0.050), and how well they were informed about ESWL (p = 0.041). In terms of trends, a statistically significant interaction was observed between time and the profession of patients (p = 0.002) for the state anxiety and patients' family history of lithiasis (p = 0.002) for the trait anxiety.

Before ESWL, patients experience moderate anxiety (state, trait) with no statistically significant changes after. Reducing the anxiety of patients undergoing ESWL is beneficial.