A descriptive study on assessment of fear of surgery in patients in a tertiary care center

Introduction: The psychological aspect of patients awaiting surgery is an area often overlooked by surgical professionals. Fear of surgery is a common yet neglected aspect that is often associated with dire consequences like increased postoperative pain, increased use of analgesia, poor recovery, etc. This study describes the fear amongst surgical patients in a tertiary care unit from 2020 to 2021.

Method: Patients awaiting pre-selected major and minor surgeries were administered an internationally validated standard questionnaire (Eight item instrument of surgical fear: Surgical Fear Questionnaire) on their fear of surgery. The prospective descriptive data on the fear of surgery were analyzed with regard to variables such as demographic data, surgery, type of anesthesia, etc.

Results: 130 patients were interviewed. Significant associations were identified between fear of surgery and age, educational level, ASA grading, duration of hospital stay prior to surgery, type of surgery, malignant disease, and type of anesthesia. However, gender, smoking and alcohol use, and history of previous surgery had no significant association. In view of an intervention to alleviate the fear of surgery 64% opted for no intervention/treatment, and 13.8% appreciated some sort of treatment. Strikingly 65% stated more information about the surgery would have been helpful.

Discussion and Conclusion: Fear of surgery in patients is associated with many factors. Preoperative identification of certain factors is helpful to predict and intervene to mitigate them. Informing the patients regarding surgery is important to reduce surgery-related fear.