Assessment of Postoperative Pain, Anxiety, and Functional Recovery Among Patients Undergoing Elective Abdominal Surgery.

INTRODUCTION

Elective abdominal operations are frequently undertaken to enhance health benefits but tend to result in postoperative recovery delay because of inadequately controlled pain, anxiety, and compromised functional recovery.

METHODS

A cross-sectional descriptive study was performed in 300 elective abdominal surgery patients, such as hernia repair, cholecystectomy, and bowel resections. The data were gathered using standardized instruments: the Numeric Rating Scale (for pain), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (for anxiety), and the Quality of Recovery-15 (for functional recovery). Correlation, t-tests, analysis of variance, and multiple regression analyses were applied. Data gathering was done from December 2024 to April 2025.

RESULTS

Participants reported an average pain score of 4.79 (SD = 1.2), with an anxiety score of 38.4 (SD = 4), while their recovery score was 62 (SD = 16.8). The majority of 184 (61%) participants were men, representing the 26-35 age group among 300 volunteers. Gallbladder removal stood as the most frequently performed operation, with 118 cases (39%) among participants. Pain showed a weak negative correlation with anxiety (r = -0.057, p < 0.001) but a moderate positive correlation with recovery (r = 0.245, p < 0.001), suggesting that higher pain scores were associated with better perceived recovery. Anxiety demonstrated an inverse relationship with recovery based on the statistical results (r = -0.247, p < 0.001). A total of 216 patients (72%) who had undergone previous surgery showed both increased anxiety (M = 38.7, SD = 4.0) and reduced recovery (M = 60.6, SD = 13.8) than patients who had not undergone any surgical procedures (p = 0.007 and p = 0.002). Patients using postoperative pain medication had higher anxiety (M = 38.8, SD = 4.04) and lower recovery scores (M = 59.8, SD = 14.6) than nonusers (p = 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively), though causality cannot be inferred due to the cross-sectional design. Results from multiple regression indicated that pain input reflected a β value of 0.232 while anxiety demonstrated a β value of -0.233, both predicting recovery at a statistical significance level of p < 0.001.

CONCLUSION

Both pain and anxiety affect postoperative recovery, but psychological distress impacts more negatively. Holistic postoperative care that considers both physical and psychological health is critical to improve surgical recovery outcomes.