Mitsonis Charalampos I, Mitropoulos Panagiotis A, Dimopoulos Nikolaos P, Mitsonis Mihail I, Andriotis Nikolaos M, Gitsa Olympia E, Mitsonis Ioannis M
Psychiatric Hospital of Athens, Greece.
Psychol Rep. 2006 Aug;99(1):257-65. doi: 10.2466/pr0.99.1.257-265.
To assess anxiety induced by a planned cataract surgery and to evaluate the correlations of rated anxiety and depression with optical acuity pre- and post-operatively, 278 patients ages 65 years or older were tested. Patients were divided into two groups: first-eye and second-eye cataract surgery. Anxiety and depression were evaluated using the Hamilton's Rating Scales for Anxiety and Depression, respectively. Pre-operatively, first-eye patients showed significantly higher anxiety than second-eye patients (F1,251 = 75.39, p < .001). First-eye patients rated peak anxiety on the day of the surgery, while patients scheduled for second-eye cataract surgery presented no fluctuations in rated anxiety (F1,251 = 49.60, p < .001). There was no correlation of preoperative anxiety or depression with the outcome of surgery (F(1,251)s = .83 and .58, respectively, p > .05). Postoperatively, anxiety and depression in patients without any improvement in their vision were rated significantly higher than in those presenting improved visual acuity after surgery (F1,251 = 566.17 and 300.25, respectively, p < .001).
