Psychosocial morbidity in the first three months following stoma surgery

One hundred and six consecutive subjects were seen in hospital a few days after undergoing surgery for bowel disease that necessitated the formation of a stoma. They consisted of patients with cancer (74), colitis (17) and diverticular disease (15). At this initial assessment details of psychological and social functioning were obtained for the preceding three months before operation. At 3 months post-operatively the subjects were interviewed in their own homes, 87 subjects were available (12 died, 7 refused) and again psychological and social assessments were made. Seventeen per cent of males and 19% of females had moderate or severe psychiatric disturbance and there was also a significant number of patients with various social disturbances. Physical diagnosis did not significantly affect psychiatric outcome. There was, however, high pre-operative psychiatric disturbance and the relevance of this in assessing post-operative symptoms is discussed.