Incidence of preoperative anxiety and associated features in children undergoing general anesthesia for a surgery in Middle East population

Abstract

Background: Children usually experience anxiety before undergoing general anesthesia. We did this prospective cross-sectional study to find the incidence of preoperative anxiety in children undergoing surgery in a tertiary care hospital.

Methodology: This study was conducted at Security Forces Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We included children aged 2-12 y, who were planned to undergo general anesthesia for surgery. Preoperatively, children’s anxiety level was assessed using mYPAS (Modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale) scale. We report the incidence of preoperative anxiety as numbers and percentages. We also report the features of children with preoperative anxiety.

Results: A total of 96 children were included in the study. The median anxiety score of children was 26.60 (23.3-41.66). The incidence of preoperative anxiety in pediatric patients was 42.7% (41 cases). The median age of children having preoperative anxiety was lower 55 (44-69.5) months vs 67 (35-90) months in children without anxiety. Sixty-three percent of children with preoperative anxiety underwent ENT and dental surgeries.

Conclusion: We found an incidence of 42.7% of preoperative anxiety in children undergoing surgery at our hospital.

Key words; Preoperative Anxiety; Anxiety Score; General Anesthesia; PACU

Citation: Huda AU, Arif A, Asim Z. Incidence of preoperative anxiety and associated features in children undergoing general anesthesia for a surgery in Middle East population. Anaesth. pain intensive care 2023;27(5):575−578; DOI: 10.35975/apic.v27i5.2314

Received: August 05, 2023; Reviewed: August 21, 2023; Accepted: August 26, 2023