Medida da Ansiedade e da Depressão em Pacientes no Pré-Operatório. Estudo Comparativo* Measurement of Anxiety and Depression in Preoperative Patients. Comparative Study

SUMMARY Marcolino JAM, Suzuki FM, Alli LAC, Gozzani JL, Mathias LAST —Measurement of Anxiety and Depression in Preoperative Patients.Comparative Study. BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Patients scheduled for sur-geries experience anxiety. Anxiety and depression are the disordersmost commonly associated with organic diseases. The HospitalAnxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) does not include items thatcould be present in organic diseases and in anxiety and depres-sion. The objective of this study was to measure the frequency andthe level of anxiety and depression in preoperative patients and ina control group. METHODS: Seventy-nine patients admitted to the Surgical Depart-ment of Santa Casa de Sao Paulo and 56 caretakers answered aquestionnaire on socio-demographic data and the HADS. RESULTS: The evaluation of the symptoms showed that 35 (44.3%)patients and 36 (64.3%) caretakers had anxiety (Fisher Exact test— p = 0.03) and 21 (26.6%) patients and 23 (41.1%) caretakers haddepression (p = 0.09). Regarding the impact of the socio-demographicdata on the measurement of anxiety and depression, it was only ob-served that patients that were unemployed had higher anxiety levels.