KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The study aimed to investigate the correlation between preoperative anxiety and postoperative complications in patients with esophageal cancer and COPD.
- Researchers noticed a significant association between preoperative anxiety and increased postoperative complications, particularly minor ones.
Esophageal cancer brings emotional changes, especially anxiety, to patients. Co-existing anxiety makes the surgery difficult and may cause complications.
Yu Rong and the team aimed to evaluate the effects of anxiety on postoperative complications in patients with esophageal cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
They performed an inclusive analysis, wherein patients diagnosed with esophageal cancer and co-existing COPD underwent tumor excision. Anxiety levels were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD) prior to surgery. Surgical complications were graded according to the Clavien-Dindo criteria.
A multiple regression model was utilized to examine the relationship between anxiety and postoperative complications. Differences in various types of complications between the anxiety group and the non-anxiety group were compared using the chi-square test. Furthermore, a multinomial logistic regression model was employed to analyze the influencing factors of both mild and severe complications.
About 270 eligible patients participated in this study, with 20.7% exhibiting anxiety symptoms and 56.6% encountering postoperative complications. Upon univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses, anxious patients faced a 4.1-fold higher risk of complications compared to non-anxious counterparts. Anxious individuals were prone to pneumonia, pyloric obstruction, and arrhythmia.
The presence of anxiety, surgical approach, higher BMI, and lower preoperative oxygen pressure correlated with increased minor complications. Surgical methods, higher COPD assessment test (CAT) scores, and elevated BMI were associated with major complications, although anxiety did not significantly impact their occurrence (P = 0.054).
The study concluded that preoperative anxiety is linked to postoperative complications in patients with esophageal cancer and co-existing COPD. Anxiety appears to elevate the incidence of postoperative complications, particularly minor ones, in this patient population.
The study received no funds.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38760716/
Rong Y, Hao Y, Wei D, et al. (2024). “Association between preoperative anxiety states and postoperative complications in patients with esophageal cancer and COPD: a retrospective cohort study.” BMC Cancer. 2024 May 17;24(1):606. doi: 10.1186/s12885-024-11884-9. PMID: 38760716; PMCID: PMC11102152.
