Preoperative anxiety is a common phenomenon affecting 60–80% of surgical patients, with potential implications for surgical outcomes. Despite its prevalence, there remains a lack of consensus on its precise effects and optimal management strategies.

This meta-analysis aimed to synthesize current evidence on the impact of preoperative anxiety on various surgical outcomes, including anesthetic and analgesic requirements, delirium, recovery times, and pain.

We conducted a comprehensive literature search and meta-analysis of studies examining the relationship between preoperative anxiety and surgical outcomes. Standardized mean differences (SMD), correlation (COR), and odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals were calculated.

Our analysis revealed significant associations between preoperative anxiety and increased anesthetic requirements (SMD = 0.67, 95% CI: 0.32–1.01) and analgesic requirements (SMD = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.65–1.12). Preoperative anxiety was associated with postoperative delirium in adults (OR = 1.90, 95% CI: 1.11–3.26), unlike the pediatric population. Preoperative anxiety was associated with prolonged time to reach Modified Aldrete Score of 9 (SMD = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.50–1.07) and extubation time (SMD = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.58–1.21). Preoperative anxiety was positively correlated with propofol consumption (STAI-S COR = 0.35, 95%CI: 0.15–0.55). No significant association between preoperative anxiety and postoperative pain was found.

This meta-analysis provides evidence for the wide-ranging effects of preoperative anxiety on surgical outcomes. The findings emphasize the need for routine preoperative anxiety screening and the development of targeted interventions. Future research should focus on long-term impacts and the effectiveness of various anxiety management strategies.

Total hip replacement is one of the most successful orthopaedic interventions in improving considerably the patients' performance, nevertheless some patients demonstrate declined functional ability following an operation. Such condition is not a consequence of medical illness or the surgery itself but might rather be associated with mental status. The authors conduct an investigation concerning the relation between some psychological and psychiatric factors and their influence on health-related quality of life in patients after total hip replacement.

Into the study group we included 102 subjects undergoing total hip replacement (59 female, 43 male). In all subjects we measured depression (Beck Depression Inventory – BDI), anxiety (State and Trait Anxiety Inventory – STAI), sense of coherence (SOC-29), personality traits (Eysenck Personality Inventory – EPI) and health related quality of life (SF-36).

The postoperative values of the PCS and the MCS for the whole group of patients correlated negatively with the SOC values (p = 0.04 and p = 0.03 respectively). Neuroticism (EPI) and anxiety as a trait (STAI) were also associated with postoperative performance, both in mental (p = 0.03 and p = 0.008 respectively) and physical (p = 0.005 and p = 0.04 respectively terms).

Total hip replacement improves significantly the patient’s health-related quality of life at 6 months after surgery, what is influenced by sense of coherence, neuroticism and anxiety as a trait. Above mentioned factors should be taken into account when rehabilitation and social readaptation processes are planned.