Waiting for elective general surgery: impact on health related quality of life and psychosocial consequences

BMC Public Health

Table 7 Scores for negative emotional reactions to waiting and their associations with waiting times and information about the expected duration of the wait

	Varicose veins		Inguinal hernia		Gallstones
	n = 175		n = 199		n = 127
Mean	12.9		13.6		17.8^a,b
SD	7.8		7.7		6.9
ML linear regression*	b	p	b	p	b	p
log_e(waited time)	-1.07	0.30	3.17	0.004	5.00	0.003
log _e (total waiting time)	0.46	0.74	-4.03	0.001	-5.07	0.006
Surgical date by approximation	-3.37	0.02	-2.53	0.04	-0.87	0.56
Exact date of planned surgery	-4.34	0.03	-6.69	<0.001	-3.57	0.09

SD, standard deviation; ML, multilevel; p, p-value
*The results of the multilevel regression analysis were corrected for age, sex, and an in- or outpatient basis of surgery if significant.
a significant difference between varicose veins and gallstones (t-test, p < 0.05).
b significant difference between inguinal hernia and gallstones (t-test, p < 0.05).

ISSN: 1471-2458