Abstract
Objective: To assess the prevalence of preoperative anxiety and the associated factors in patients of elective surgery presenting in Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar.
Methodology: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in the Khyber Teaching Hospital from September 2018 to January 2019. Systematic non-probability consecutive technique of sampling was used. Inclusion criteria included age above 18 years of age, patients of elective surgery and hemodynamically stable patients. Patients of emergency surgery, complicated cases, and unstable patients were excluded from the study. Patients taking any anxiolytic medications were also excluded from this study. A well-structured survey questionnaire was used.
Results: The study included 249 patients. Mean age was 43years (range 23-67). High level of anxiety was present in 164(65.9%) participants. There was a significant relation between female gender and preoperative anxiety (p=0.04). Most common reasons for preoperative anxiety were the fear of surgery being postponed (n=192; 77.1%), awareness during anesthesia (n=187; 75.1%), harms from mistakes made during surgery (n=178; 71.5%), not waking from surgery (n=176; 70.7%).
Conclusion: Patients in our setting experience a high level of anxiety before surgery. Preoperative anxiety was more in female patients.

Key words: Thyroid surgery, preoperative, anxiety.