Depression and anxiety in patients undergoing elective and emergency surgery: Cross-sectional study from Allama Iqbal Memorial Teaching Hospital, Sialkot.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of depression and anxiety in post-operative patients undergoing elective and emergency surgery.

METHODS: The cross-sectional analytical study was conducted at the Department of Surgery and Department of Psychiatry of the Allama Iqbal Memorial Teaching Hospital, Sialkot, Pakistan, from September 2013 to April 2016, and comprised patients due for elective or emergency surgery. Patients admitted to the surgical wards, including general surgical, neurosurgical, urological and orthopaedic wards, undergoing major surgical procedures were enrolled. The patients were divided into elective surgery group 1 and emergency surgery group 2. The hospital anxiety and depression scale was used to screen for symptoms of anxiety and depression. SPSS 22 was used for data analysis.

RESULTS: Of the 6,624 patients, 4,635(69.97%) were in group 1 and 1,989(30.03%) in group 2.The mean age of patients was 36.75±10.3years in group 1 and 39.11±11.4 years in group 2. There were 1,715(37%) males and 2,920(63%) females in group 1, while 518(26%) males and 1,471(74%) females were in group 2. Anxiety was present in 914(45.95%) and 656(32%) patients at 0 and 3 weeks in patients undergoing emergency surgery, while in elective surgery patients it was noted in 509(10.93%) and 1,390(29.87%) subjects, respectively. Depression was present in 218(10.96%) and 616(30.97%) patients at 0 and 3 weeks in patients undergoing emergency surgery, while in elective surgery it was noted in 463(9.98%) and 1,488(32.1%) respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: Depression and anxiety were quite frequent in patients undergoing major surgeries. Anxiety was more common in patients who underwent emergency surgeries.