The Impact of Preoperative Anxiety on Postoperative Pain Intensity and Comfort Levels in Patients Following Ureteroscopy.

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to determine the impact of preoperative anxiety on postoperative pain and comfort levels in patients following ureteroscopy. DESIGN: Descriptive cross-sectional study. METHODS: The sample population of the study consisted of 212 patients who were planned to undergo ureteroscopy because of urinary system stones at a Urology Clinic. Descriptive Information Form, Early Perioperative Comfort Scale, Visual Analog Scale, State Anxiety Scale, and Surgical Anxiety Scale were used to collect study data. RESULTS: In the study, it was determined that the average score of the Surgical Anxiety Scale was 21.75±3.46, the average score of State Anxiety Scale was 35.94±6.43, the pain intensity of the patients at the 4th postoperative hour was 5.75±1.84, the pain intensity at the 8th hour was 2.53±1.86, mean total score of the Perianesthesia Comfort Scale was 4.48±0.6, and 41.0% of the patients experienced moderate-to-high levels of preoperative anxiety. In this study, it was found that as the preoperative anxiety scores of the patients increased, the severity of postoperative pain increased, and the comfort level decreased. Preoperative anxiety was observed to be a significant predictor of pain severity and comfort level at the 4th and 8th hours postoperatively. CONCLUSION: It was demonstrated in this study that nearly half of the patients experienced moderate-to-severe preoperative anxiety, and preoperative anxiety was a crucial factor affecting postoperative pain and comfort levels.