Abstract
BACKGROUND: The potential for preoperative anxiety to be negatively associated with postoperative recovery remains a current, increasingly important issue that warrants further investigation. The primary objective of this study was to assess the relationship between preoperative anxiety and postoperative recovery in patients. METHODS: Designed as a prospective observational cohort study, this research included patients who had surgeries in the general surgery department at a university hospital from September 15, 2020, to January 31, 2021. The study gathered data through the use of the Patient Information Form, the Anxiety Specific to Surgery Questionnaire, and the Postoperative Recovery Index. The analysis of the data was carried out using the SPSS (version25.0) software package. RESULTS: The study found that the average age of the patients was 54.28 ± 15.4 years, and 60.0% of them were women. The average score on the Anxiety Specific to Surgery Questionnaire was 27.9 ± 10.9. The average score on the Postoperative Recovery Index was 2.84 ± 0.86 for measurements taken on days 0–3 and 1.82 ± 0.64 for measurements taken on days 10–15. Upon examining each sub-dimension and the total scale scores, it was found that most patients reported favorable recovery outcomes. In addition, a statistically significant relationship was identified between preoperative anxiety levels and postoperative recovery scores. CONCLUSION: Patients generally reported greater recovery difficulties during the early postoperative period (days 0–3) compared with days 10–15. It was also found that preoperative anxiety was significantly associated with postoperative recovery. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12893-026-03589-6.