Current status and influencing factors of fear of surgery in patients with oral and maxillofacial tumors.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the incidence and severity of surgical fear in patients with oral and maxillofacial tumors.

Methods: The survey participants were composed of patients with oral and maxillofacial tumors, who were scheduled to undergo surgery. A general information questionnaire, the Surgical Fear Questionnaire (SFQ), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9, and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)-7 score were used for the investigation.

Results: A total of 203 patients were investigated. Among them, 85.22% had fear of surgery. The median score of SFQ was 20, and the quartile was (6, 36). The patients were categorized into none, mild, moderate, and severe groups according fear level. Gender, diabetes, obvious discomfort before surgery, PHQ-9, and GAD-7 scores were the variables with statistical difference in each fear level. Multifactor analysis showed that women were more likely to have moderate and severe fear than men (OR=2.19, P=0.03; OR=2.72, P=0.01), patients with obvious preoperative discomfort symptoms were more inclined to have no fear (OR=4.73, P=0.02), and patients with diabetes were more likely to have severe fear (OR=3.33, P=0.02). The incidence rates of depression and anxiety were 31.03% and 24.63%, respectively. The incidence of anxiety and depression in patients with severe fear was 40.00%. Surgical fear was moderately positively correlated with anxiety (r=0.491, P<0.001) and depression (r=0.514, P<0.001).

Conclusions: The fear of surgery in patients with oral and maxillofacial tumors is common and distributed in all levels. Medical staff can screen and assess patients with moderate and severe fear of surgery in accordance with the influencing factors and implement targeted interventions to reduce fear of surgery, anxiety, and depression on the basis of the source of fear.