Posters

Correlations of preoperative anxiety, blood pressure and cataract surgery in adults by using STAI questionnaire

Poster Details

First Author: P. Vichitvejpaisal THAILAND

Co Author(s): K. Saksritawee                    

Abstract Details

Purpose:

Anxiety is the main problem among individuals coming for surgery. This study aimed to evaluate the level of pre-operative anxiety in relation to blood pressure and cataract surgery by using STAI questionnaire.

Setting:

Chiang Mai Hospital, Chiang Mai, Thailand Chulabhorn Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand

Methods:

State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) is now the standard tool for measuring preoperative anxiety with the state subscale (STAI-S) and the trait subscale (STAI-T). The state subscale measures temporary anxiety. The trait subscale is relatively stable in showing personal difference in term of how individuals differently experience anxiety. Blood pressure and heart rate can be increased following different anxiety levels. Most common age group for cataract surgery is elder people who may have other comorbidities. An increase of blood pressure reflects directly to the eyes, which will set another challenge for ophthalmologists to work under tight gap for intraoperative intraocular pressure.

Results:

In this study, we applied STAI to evaluate the level of anxiety and the correlation of increasing blood pressure prior to cataract surgery. There were 141 patients undergoing cataract surgery who participated in this study. The increased systolic blood pressure prior to cataract surgery was significantly correlated with baseline systolic blood pressure. Whilst, the higher blood pressure before cataract surgery was correlated with STAI-S (r = 0.183, p-value = 0.031), but no correlation between STAI-T and the increased blood pressure (r = 0.048, p-value = 0.571).

Conclusions:

Hence, the surge in pre-operative blood pressure can be predicted from the current status of anxiety score (STAI-S), yet not from the trait anxiety score (STAI-T).

Financial Disclosure:

None