Abstract
Objective
Every patient could feel anxious when he waits in a radiological department to undergo diagnostic exams. The aim of our study is to evaluate the impact of the radiological exams on patient anxiety.
Materials and methods
We evaluated 343 patients (mean age 54.83 years) who underwent different types of diagnostic exams in the Department of Diagnostic Imaging at our Hospital from April 2013 to August 2014. We administered to patients the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory Test, which detected with high sensitivity both state anxiety and trait anxiety. A team of clinical psychologists and radiologists evaluated the scores obtained.
Results
83 out of 343 patients were excluded because refused to file the questionnaire. 31 % of the patients were submitted to MR, 18 % to breast imaging, 10 % to X-ray, 22 % Computer Tomography and 19 % to ultrasound, as previously described. 41 % of patients were submitted to the examination because of an oncologic disease, while 59 % because of non-oncological disease. Therefore, it was found that high levels of anxiety were present in most (about 91 %) of the patients and the scores varied according to the imaging examination and to the examination’s reason: anxiety level was higher in non-oncological patients (54 %) and in patients waiting to undergo to MRI exams (29 %).
Conclusion
Our data suggest that the diagnostic exams are stressful events for the patient, also in non-oncological patients. So, it is important to adequate the radiological staff to receive the patient, to inform him and perform exams with emotive involvement with a targeted education. Also, further studies are needed to evaluate the anxiety level and the quality of the images, because the anxiety can result in a somatic disorder with hyperactivity of the autonomic nervous system which may affect the patient’s physical examination, causing problems in the evaluation of radiological images making to non-cooperative patient. MRI imaging is the examination that more of all led to an anxious state of patients but the main stressor is not related to the type of diagnostic examination, but to the uncertainty of the diagnosis, therapy and prognosis.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Mettler FA Jr, Bhargavan M, Faulkner K, Gilley DB, Gray JE, Ibbott GS, Lipoti JA, Mahesh M, McCrohan JL, Stabin MG, Thomadsen BR, Yoshizumi TT (2009) Radiologic and nuclear medicine studies in the United States and worldwide: frequency, radiation dose, and comparison with other radiation sources—1950–2007. Radiology 253(2):520–531
La Grutta L, La Grutta S, Galia M, Lo Piccolo G, Gentile G, La Tona G, Epifanio MS, Maffei E, Cademartiri F, Lo Baido R, Lagalla R, Midiri M (2014) Acceptance of noninvasive computed tomography coronary angiography: for a patient-friendly medicine. Radiol Med 119:128–134
Cubuk R, Tasali N, Yilmazer S, Gokalp P, Celik L, Dagdeviren B, Guney S (2011) Effect of an oral anxiolytic medication and heart rate variability on image quality of 64-slice MDCT coronary angiography. Radiol Med 116:47–55
Faul AL, Jim HS, Williams C, Loftus LE, Jacobsen PB (2010) Relationship of stress management skill to psychological distress and quality of life in adults with cancer. Psycho Oncol 19:102–109
Torta R, Mussa A (2007) Psiconcologia Il modello biopsicosociale, 2nd edn. Centro Scientifico Editore, Torino, pp 110–135
Pifarré P, Simó M, Gispert JD, Pallarés MD, Plaza P, Martínez-Miralles E (2011) Diagnostic imaging studies: do they create anxiety? Rev Esp Me Nucl 30:346–350
Spielberger CD et al (1980) State-trait anxiety inventory—Forma Y. Milano, Giunti O.S, pp 81–95
Flory N, Lang E (2011) Distress in the radiology waiting room. Radiology 260:166–173
Soo MS, Jarosz JA, Wren AA, Soo AE, Mowery YM, Johnson KS, Yoon SC, Kim C, Hwang ES, Keefe FJ, Shelby RA (2016) Imaging-guided core-needle breast biopsy: impact of meditation and music interventions on patient anxiety, pain, and fatigue. J Am Coll Radiol S1546–1440(15):01360–01365
Yu LS, Chojniak R, Borba MA, Girão DS, Lourenço MT (2011) Prevalence of anxiety in patients awaiting diagnostic procedures in an oncology center in Brazil. Psychooncology 20:1252–1255
Von Bülow B (2000) Psychological consequences of breast cancer screening among healthy women. Ugeskr Laeger 162:1053–1059
Sutton S, Saidi G, Bickler G, Hunter J (1995) Does routine screening for breast cancer raise anxiety? Results from a three wave prospective study in England. J Epidemiol Community Health 49:413–418
Domènech A, Notta P, Benítez A, Ramal D, Rodríguez-Bel L, Massuet C et al (2010) Evaluation of the anxiety state in patients receiving radioiodine treatment or who undergo a sentinel lymph node examination in the Nuclear Medicine Department. Rev Esp Med Nucl 29:63–72
Burton S, Price E, Warren D (1998) Psychological predictors of attendance at annual breast screening examination. Br J Cancer 77:2014–2019
Lell MM, Ditt H, Panknin C, Sayre JW, Klotz E, Ruehm SG, Villablanca JP (2008) Cervical CT angiography comparing routine noncontrast and a late venous scan as masks for automated bone subtraction: feasibility study and examination of the influence of patient motion on image quality. Invest Radiol 43(1):27–32
Klaming L, Van Minde D, Weda H, Nielsen T, Duijm LE (2015) The relation between anticipatory anxiety and movement during an MR examination. Acad Radiol 22(12):1571–1578
Carlsson S, Carlsson E (2013) The situation and the uncertainty about the coming result scared me but interaction with the radiographers helped me through: a qualitative study on patients’ experiences of magnetic resonance imaging examinations. J Clin Nurs 22:3225–3234
Ahlander BM, Årestedt K, Engvall J, Maret E, Ericsson E (2016) Development and validation of a questionnaire evaluating patient anxiety during magnetic resonance imaging: the Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Anxiety Questionnaire (MRI-AQ). J Adv Nurs 18:1368–1380
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical standards
This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.
Informed consent
This prospective single-center study was approved by our institutional review board. Informed consent was waived due to its retrospective nature.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lo Re, G., De Luca, R., Muscarneri, F. et al. Relationship between anxiety level and radiological investigation. Comparison among different diagnostic imaging exams in a prospective single-center study. Radiol med 121, 763–768 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-016-0664-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-016-0664-z