Patient mood can impact medical procedure results

Public Release: 3-Dec-2015
Patient mood can impact medical procedure results
Radiological Society of North America

Feeling high levels of distress, fear and hostility prior to undergoing an angioplasty or other interventional radiology procedure may lead to a poor outcome, according to new research presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

"I was surprised by this result," said study author Nadja Kadom, M.D., currently acting associate professor of radiology at Emory University School of Medicine and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. "Prior to this study, I did not believe patient mood could have an effect on outcome."

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A statistical analysis of the data revealed that patients with a high negative affect experienced significantly more adverse events than patients with low negative affect. Of the 104 patients with high negative affect, 23 (22 percent) had an adverse event, compared to 15 (12 percent) of the 126 patients with low negative affect. The degree of positive affect did not make a significant difference in the incidence of adverse events.

"Our study shows that mood matters," noted Dr. Lang, an interventional radiologist in Boston. "You don't need to have a chipper, cheery attitude prior to your procedure. You just have to overcome negative emotions and get to a neutral level."

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