Preoperative education for reducing patient anxiety in elective hip and knee arthroplasty – a systematic review and meta-analysis

Findings show a trend in favour of education for reducing anxiety and postoperative pain, though effect sizes were small, and the amount of practical benefit remains questionable due to inter-trial clinical heterogeneity. It was also observed that multi-format interventions may be beneficial for patients with greater anxiety, learning needs, or pain. Further research is necessary due to a lack of trials with reproducibly described interventions.