Patients having surgery who had a wide network of friends and family had less pain and anxiety before surgery. After their operations, they also had less pain and needed less pain medicine.
Patients with limited social networks stayed longer in the hospital after surgery.
More than six hundred men having abdominal or chest surgery in Veterans Affairs medical centers were asked about the number of friends and family they had and how often they had contact with them. – Their pain and anxiety levels were measured before and after surgery. The research team also use of pain medicine after surgery, complications, and length of hospital stay.
Those with the strongest social networks had the least pain and anxiety and left the hospital sooner.
Allison R. Mitchinson, MPH, NCTMB and her colleagues reported,
These findings suggest that the effect of social networks on surgical outcomes can be mediated by their effect on levels of preoperative pain and anxiety. Patients should be screened preoperatively for pain and anxiety because these are strong predictors of a more difficult postoperative recovery.
SOURCE: Mitchinson et al, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Volume 206, Issue 2, February 2008.
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