Postoperative deterioration in psychomotor function.

To help understand the postoperative fatigue state, psychomotor performance before and after surgical procedures or bed rest has been analyzed. Forty subjects in three groups were studied during test periods ranging from five to 21 days. Patients undergoing routine elective operations as well as subjects at bed rest alone experienced substantial impairment in several measures of psychomotor performance. Maximum deterioration was noted on postoperative days 4 and 5.