Relationship between pre-operative anxiety and post-operative state

Abstract

Janis (1958) has proposed a curvilinear relationship pre-operative anxiety and post-operative emotional state. While other hypotheses share the prediction of a poor outcome for patients with pre-operative high anxiety, Janis' theory is unique in predicting a poor outcome for those with low anxiety. Subsequent research has failed to confirm Janis' hypotheses, perhaps because the designs have been insensitive to the predictions for low anxiety patients. The current study tests the hypothesis more directly and finds some support for a linear relationship between pre-operative anxiety and post-operative negative affect, with no support for Janis' curvilinear hypothesis. On the whole, pre-operative anxiety was a poor predictor of other measures of recovery but, on one measure, patients with low anxiety showed a slower recovery than those with moderate anxiety, i.e. supporting the prediction of a poor outcome for low anxiety patients. The implications of these results for pre-operative preparation of surgical patients and the development of theories of anxiety are discussed.