Prevalence and determinants of anxiety among patients undergoing MRI: Insights from a low-resource setting

MRI-related anxiety often leads to heightened patient discomfort, non-adherence, and compromised image quality. However, no study in Ghana has investigated specific factors associated with MRI-related anxiety. This study investigated prevalence of MRI-related anxiety and factors associated with elevated anxiety among Ghanaian patients.

This single-center, cross-sectional study was conducted between October 2024 and January 2025. Patient socio-demographic and clinical information were obtained with a pre-piloted questionnaire. A validated tool, the MRI-Anxiety Questionnaire (MRI-AQ), was used to assess patient anxiety levels immediately after their MRI. Relationship between anxiety levels and socio-demographic, clinical and pre-procedural factors were assessed by inferential statistics and post-hoc tests. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Among the 182 enrolled patients, 59 (32.4%), 90 (49.5%) and 33 (18.1%) experienced low, moderate, and high anxiety, respectively. Increased anxiety was reported in females (p = 0.011), patients with chronic conditions (p = 0.013), first time MRI patients (adjusted p < 0.001) and patients without adequate MRI-procedural information (p = 0.001). Also, increased anxiety was reported in younger adults (≤40 years) compared with older adults (≥61 years) (adjusted p = 0.023), in patients with primary school education than in university graduates (adjusted p = 0.008) and in the unemployed than those in full-time employment (p = 0.020).

This study highlights certain socio-demographic, clinical and pre-procedural factors associated with heightened MRI-related anxiety. Female, young adult, unemployment, lower educational level, first time MRI, chronic conditions and lack of adequate MRI information are significant contributing factors.

Identifying and understanding factors and drivers of MRI-related anxiety in a low-resource setting is crucial for the development of targeted patient-support strategies and improving the quality of clinical care.