Emotional effects of nasal packing measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale in patients following nasal surgery.

The aim of this study was to test the validity of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) Scale in patients who underwent nasal surgery as a method of screening for emotional disorders during their hospital stay. The study group consisted of 50 adult patients (29 male, 21 female) who underwent nasal surgery for different reasons, such as chronic sinusitis, nasal polyposis, and nasal septal deviation. Functional endoscopic sinus surgery and/or septoplasty were managed in these patients, and all of the patients had nasal packing applied bilaterally for 2 days. The HAD Scale was given to all of the patients 1 day before surgery and 1 day after surgery, with anterior nasal packing bilaterally during the hospital stay. The anxiety and depression levels of the male group were under the cutoff points. For the female group, the depression levels were under the cutoff points, and the anxiety levels were high in the preoperative period and decreased after the operation. Anxiety and depression levels in the pre- and postoperative periods for the male and female groups were analyzed by Paired t-test. No statistically significant result was found (p > .05). It was concluded that, for patients well informed about nasal packing and hospital conditions, nasal packing may be used safely, without any psychological disturbance. The HAD Scale should be a more useful screening method to diagnose emotional disorders, especially in patients who are hospitalized for a long time.