PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate how both visual analog scale cutoff scores and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory scores relate to hemodynamic changes in patients entering the operating theater. DESIGN: A prospective observational study. METHODS: The study subjects included 130 prospectively enrolled patients who were scheduled for abdominal surgery under combined epidural-general anesthesia and who underwent preoperative anxiety level measurements using both scales. FINDINGS: The heart rate and systolic blood pressure on entering the operating theater were significantly higher than those at baseline in the high and low/moderate anxiety groups. Variations in heart rate and systolic blood pressure were significantly higher, whereas peripheral blood flow was significantly lower in the high anxiety group compared with the low/moderate anxiety group. CONCLUSIONS: Using the visual analog scale to measure anxiety can improve our understanding of the hemodynamic changes that occur when patients enter the operating theater.
PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate how both visual analog scale cutoff scores and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory scores relate to hemodynamic changes in patients entering the operating theater. DESIGN: A prospective observational study. METHODS: The study subjects included 130 prospectively enrolled patients who were scheduled for abdominal surgery under combined epidural-general anesthesia and who underwent preoperative anxiety level measurements using both scales. FINDINGS: The heart rate and systolic blood pressure on entering the operating theater were significantly higher than those at baseline in the high and low/moderate anxiety groups. Variations in heart rate and systolic blood pressure were significantly higher, whereas peripheral blood flow was significantly lower in the high anxiety group compared with the low/moderate anxiety group. CONCLUSIONS: Using the visual analog scale to measure anxiety can improve our understanding of the hemodynamic changes that occur when patients enter the operating theater.