Fear and Anxiety in Anesthesia-Naïve Patients Pre-operatively vs Post-operatively

April 29, 2026 updated by: Ana Costa, Stony Brook University

Fear and Anesthesia: How Anxiety and Fear in Anesthesia-Naïve Patients Changes From Preop to Postop

The goal of this observational study is to understand how fear and anxiety felt by anesthesia-naive patients compares before versus after their scheduled surgery. Patients who are scheduled to undergo a low-risk surgery/procedure and have never had anesthesia before will be asked to:

  1. Fill out a survey before their surgery in the perioperative setting
  2. Answer follow-up questions over the phone a few days after their surgery.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Patients that fit the inclusion/exclusion criteria and consent to the study will fill out a paper survey that is an adapted version of the Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale (APAIS) along with additional questions related to anesthesia anxiety for secondary analysis. 7 days (+/-72 hours) after the patient's surgery, they will complete a follow-up survey over the phone that is an adapted version of the APAIS. Results will be recorded on paper and then uploaded into REDCap for data analysis.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

40

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients over 18 who have never received anesthesia before that are scheduled to undergo a low-risk surgery/procedure at Stony Brook University Hospital, Stony Brook Ambulatory Surgery Center, or Stony Brook Ambulatory Care Pavilion.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 18 years old or over
  • Patients scheduled to undergo surgeries such as but not limited to:

cholecystectomies, appendectomies, hernia repairs, breast surgeries, plastic surgeries, thyroidectomy, parathyroidectomy, tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy, lithotripsy, stent placement, kidney stone surgeries, cystoscopies, bladder tumors, ovarian cystectomies, hysterectomies, tubal ligation, hysteroscopy, Intrauterine Device (IUD) insertion, knee replacement, hip replacement, fracture pinning, sports injury surgery such as knee and shoulder scopes. OR patients undergoing procedures such as but not limited to: colonoscopies and endoscopies

  • Patient undergoing anesthesia for the first time
  • Patients who are not pregnant by self report

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients under 18
  • Patients who are pregnant
  • Patients undergoing high-risk surgeries
  • Patients undergoing cancer-related procedures
  • Non-English speaking patients
  • Patients that experience mental status change postoperatively as determined by the medical teams caring for the patient
  • Patients with an existing anxiety disorder, or psychiatric diagnoses
  • Patients on benzodiazepines, antidepressants, chronic opioids

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Differences in anxiety scale scores pre- and post-operatively in anesthesia-naïve patients
Time Frame: From enrollment until 7 days (+/-72 hours) post-operative
Participants will be given 2 scores based on their pre-operative survey and their post-operative survey. The change in anxiety score will be evaluated.
From enrollment until 7 days (+/-72 hours) post-operative

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Determining if there is an association between a pre-operative desire for information related to anesthesia and the post-operative reality of the individual subject's anesthesia experience.
Time Frame: From enrollment until 7 days (+/-71 hours) post-operative
This data will be collected from the pre-operative and post-operative survey questionnaires and evaluated for correlation.
From enrollment until 7 days (+/-71 hours) post-operative
Comparing the frequency of specific fears of events pre-operatively versus the post-operative reality of the individual subject's anesthesia experience.
Time Frame: From enrollment until 7 days (+/-71 hours) post-operative
This data will be collected from the pre-operative and post-operative survey questionnaires and will be evaluated.
From enrollment until 7 days (+/-71 hours) post-operative

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Stony Brook University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Ana Costa, MD, Stony Brook University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

February 12, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

February 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

February 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 23, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 23, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

April 30, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 5, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 29, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IRB2024-00359

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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