Fear of going under general anesthesia: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objectives:Fears related to anesthesia have affected a considerable number of patients going for surgery. The purpose of this survey was to identify the most common concerns about general anesthesia during the preoperative anesthetic clinic in different healthcare settings, and whether they are affected by patients’ sex, age, education, or previous experience of anesthesia or not.Materials and Methods:Structured questionnaires with consent forms were distributed to patients in their preanesthesia clinic visit in three tertiary hospitals (King Abdul-Aziz Medical City, King Faisal Specialist Hospital, and King Khalid University Hospital) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Patients’ demographics and questions related to their fears regarding general anesthesia were included in the questionnaires. All categorical and interval variables were compared statically using a Chi-square test for independence and a t-test, respectively. All statistical tests were declared significant at α level of 0.05 or less.Results:Among 450 questionnaires that were disturbed, 400 questionnaires were collected and analyzed. Eighty-eight percent experienced preoperative fear. The top three causes of their fears were fear of postoperative pain (77.3%), fear of intraoperative awareness (73.7%), and fear of being sleepy postoperatively (69.5%). Patients are less fearful of drains and needles in the operative theater (48%), of revealing personal issues under general anesthesia (55.2%), and of not waking up after surgery (56.4%). Age and gender were significant predictors of the overall fear among preanesthetic patients. Females are 5 times more likely to experience fear before surgery (P = 0.0009). Patients aged more than 40 years old are also at 75% higher risk of being afraid (P = 0.008).Conclusion:The majority of the patients going for surgery experienced a fear of anesthesia. Mostly females, especially those over 40, were at a higher risk of being afraid. Fear can bring anxiety which, in turn, might affect the patient's surgery.

Preoperative transcranial direct current stimulation: Exploration of a novel strategy to enhance neuroplasticity before surgery to control postoperative pain. A randomized sham-controlled study

“…While homogeneous study population is methodologically advantageous, external validity issues arise. That is, hallux valgus may be associated with a particular psychological and behavioral state that is not common in other surgical populations since preoperative anxiety level is related to gender, age and surgery type [ 36 ]. Third, the heat pain threshold as conditioning pain stimulus to elicit a prolonged pain sensation to trigger CPM was distant from the source of ongoing pain because the persistent chronic pain activates the systems involved in pain processing.…”

Individuals with back and neck pain on medical forums: What do they mention? What do they fear?

“…Another obvious threatening theme we identified was that of invasive medical procedures, which was the leading subject mentioned in both the general themes categories and the explicit fear-related themes analysis. Fear of surgical procedures is a well-documented topic and Ruhaiyem et al (2016) reported that 88% of patients who were intending to undergo a surgical procedure experienced preoperative fear. In that study, many aspects of fear were related to anaesthesia, and 77.3% of the patients expressed fear of postoperative pain.…”

Effective communication at pre-anaesthetic evaluation clinic of a tertiary care hospital: patient perspectives and satisfaction

“…Fear of post-operative pain is one of the major factors for perioperative anxiety in previous studies. [12][13][14] Our study proves effective discussion at PAC about postoperative pain management may help reduce anxiety among patients. A good percentage of patients felt that their questions were adequately answered at PAC which could have further contributed to reduction in anxiety after meeting the anaesthesiologist.…”