Psychiatric disturbances in patients undergoing open-heart surgery

Abstract

Background: Emotional and behavioral problems have been noted in a considerable number of patients after open-heart surgery. However, great discrepancy exists in the literature regarding the frequency and the course of psychiatric symptoms, cognitive performance, and quality of life among those patients. This prospective study was designed to assess the pre-and postoperative psychiatric profile, as well as the quality of life of patients undergoing open-heart surgery. Methods: One hundred patients who were prepared for cardiac surgery and met our selection criteria were recruited in this study. Each patient was subjected to the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Mini-Mental State Examination with selective subtests of Wechsler Adult intelligence scale, and the Short Form 36 questionnaire to assess psychiatric symptoms, cognitive performance, and quality of life respectively. Assessment was done for each of the evaluated items before surgery as well as at 1 week and 6 months postoperatively. Results: The anxiety and depressive symptoms were significantly lower at 6 months postoperatively than preoperatively. The cognitive performance declined after 1 week, then improved significantly at the 6-month follow-up. The quality of life scale was significantly lower preoperatively than after surgery. Conclusions: Anxiety and depressive symptoms, which occurred in substantial percentage of patients undergoing open-heart surgery, were gradually improved with time. Cognitive functions showed early deterioration with significant improvement at 6 months. Psychiatric problems had an adverse impact on patients' quality of life which raised the importance of psychiatric consultation before and after cardiac surgeries to shorten recovery time.

Evaluation of individual education effect on anxiety in elderly candidates for open-heart surgery

“…The results revealed that after application of individual education based on needs assessment before the surgery, the state and the trait anxiety significantly decreased among the elderly patients. Considering the increasing number of elderly people undergoing open-heart surgery (16), their educational needs should be considered by all healthcare providers; because the presence of anxiety before cardiac surgery can result in several bad consequences for patients before and after the surgery (17,18,19). In some studies, the rate of preparatory anxiety among cardiac patients was reported to be about 80% (17).…”

Pre-Operative Depression and Anxiety in Patients Undergoing Open-Heart Surgery

“…Symptoms of depression and anxiety decreased at 1 week to 6 months post-operatively. 13 In the study by Vingerhoets, it was also found that the highest average scores for depression and anxiety were owned by female subjects with scores of 51.5 ± 13.6 and 10.7 ± 7.2, respectively. 14 In comparison, this study also had higher mean scores of depression and anxiety in females than males sex, with scores of 43.8 ± 11.3 and 8.2 ± 6.7, respectively.…”

The Psychological and Somatic Consequences of Digital Amputation

“…Increased attention has recently been focused on the mental health of surgical patients. [1][2][3][4] Perhaps in part provoked by the confessions of well-known contemporary athletes concerning mental health difficulties, the significant relationship between psychological and somatic well-being has become more acknowledged and better appreciated. Previous investigations have verified the proportionality of injury severity to psychological trauma.…”