Anxiety in women referred for colposcopy: a prospective observational study

Abstract

Purpose To evaluate the occurrence of anxiety in women attending a colposcopic examination within the new cervical cancer screening in Germany. Methods One hundred and fifty-six patients were asked to fill out Spielbergers STAI inventory form prior to their colposcopic examination. For the statistical analysis, a two by two between-group design was applied including the following group factors: the repeat factors included patients, who presented to our centre of dysplasia for the first time (new) and patients who have had an examination in our centre before (repeat). Further, the factor diagnosis included two groups: first, patients with cervical dysplasia and second, patients with vulva diseases. Results The analysis of the STAI results showed that patients presenting with cervical dysplasia for the first time had the highest levels of anxiety, directly followed by new patients in the vulva group. The ANOVA revealed a main effect of the repeat factor, F(1,140) = 7.53, p = 0.007. There was no significant effect of diagnosis. Conclusion Regardless of the diagnosis, patients being transferred for a colposcopy within the cervical cancer screening program for the first time have very high anxiety levels. The prospect of a potentially painful examination seems to be a key factor. Only a scientific evaluation of the new cervical cancer screening will be able to show if the rising numbers of colposcopic examinations is really worth the risk of exposing so many more women to the emotional distress of a colposcopy.

Levels of anxiety in women aged ≥45 years undergoing diagnostic large loop excision of the transformation zone: A longitudinal study

“…Compared with other studies that measure anxiety levels before and after colposcopy, we found an overall low STAI median score for anxiety, despite that women in our study were informed that, if they were eligible, they would be offered a diagnostic LLETZ 10,11,26–28 . This could partly be explained by differences in age distribution, as the median age in the present study was 67.7 years (IQR 61.6–70.3 years) compared with the above mentioned studies that had mean ages ranging from 29.0 to 45.6 years.…”

Patients’ expectations of preventive measures of medical institutions during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Germany in women with an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer: a cross-sectional, web-based survey

“… 2 14 25 26 Medical appointments are an anxiety-provoking experience for patients, especially for those facing a possible or existing malignant diagnosis. 27 The word ‘distress’ is mentioned by patients with cancer who were denied the option of having a family member or friend with them during medical appointments. 15 Although the respondents in this study endorsed vigilant sanitary precautions to prevent nosocomial infections, an overwhelming proportion (75.0%) supported the possibility of being accompanied by a significant other during medical consultations, irrespective of their demographic, disease-specific or pandemic-specific characteristics.…”

Impact of human papillomavirus age-related prevalence and vaccination levels on interpretation of cervical screening modalities: a modelling study

“…In younger women especially, there is high transient incidence of HPV, and using HPV infection alone as a screening modality would result in an unacceptably high false detection rate of CIN2+. False positive results not only induce anxiety7 8 in patients but also lead to potential overtreatment, with the potential to overwhelm colposcopy services unless these are robustly designed 3 9…”