Relationship of anxiety-related symptoms with pain, disability and postoperative period after degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis surgery.

Purpose: This study investigates the anxiety levels of patients who have undergone surgery for degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis (DLSS) and the impact of this condition on their post-operative recovery process. Materials and methods: The study group consisted of 71 patients and the control group consisted of 65 healthy individuals. The study assessed the patients' pain, disability and anxiety levels. The results show that the patients' anxiety levels are higher than those of the general population, and that anxiety levels increase even more in patients with high pain and disability scores. Postoperative State Anxiety (SA) and Trait Anxiety (TA) scores were compared between DLSS patients and healthy individuals. The anxiety scores of the patient group were analyzed in relation to age, gender, pain, physical disability and postoperative period. Results: It was found that the SA scores were statistically significantly higher in the pain group. It was found that the SA scores of patients were statistically significantly different according to their physical disability status. It was also found that both the painful early postoperative group and the painful late postoperative group had higher SA scores than the painless early postoperative group and the painless late postoperative group. Conclusion: These findings highlight the importance of considering pain, physical activity, and anxiety together in supporting the postoperative recovery process. It is suggested that holistic approaches that focus on pain, physical disability and anxiety may have a positive impact on recovery. More extensive and prospective studies are needed to clarify the causal relationship between these concepts