Abstract
Background and Objectives: Vision-threatening vitreoretinal disease and the prospect of surgery may generate substantial emotional distress. This study examined anxiety, depressive symptoms, and coping strategies in patients undergoing pars plana vitrectomy and explored their relationships with visual acuity, symptom duration, and medical comorbidity. Materials and Methods: A single-center prospective observational study included 26 adult inpatients scheduled for pars plana vitrectomy. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were assessed using clinician-administered Hamilton Anxiety and Depression Rating Scales before surgery and two weeks postoperatively. Coping strategies were evaluated preoperatively using the Brief COPE questionnaire. Statistical analyses were performed to assess changes in psychological symptom scores over time and to explore associations between clinical characteristics and psychological distress, with adjustment for multiple comparisons. Results: Mean anxiety scores decreased from 10.00 ± 8.58 preoperatively to 6.88 ± 5.89 postoperatively (p < 0.001; q < 0.001). Depressive symptom scores also decreased (6.19 ± 6.39 vs. 5.15 ± 4.86; p = 0.021), but the difference did not remain statistically significant after adjustment (q = 0.074). Patients with higher calculated visual acuity (≥0.5) exhibited greater preoperative anxiety than those with lower acuity (14.36 ± 9.75 vs. 6.80 ± 6.14; p = 0.038; q = 0.076). Acceptance, active coping, and religion were the most frequently identified predominant preoperative coping strategies. Conclusions: Anxiety symptom scores decreased during the early postoperative period, although a causal effect of surgery cannot be established. The exploratory finding of greater anxiety among patients with relatively better calculated visual acuity raises the hypothesis that fear of losing useful vision may contribute to preoperative distress. Larger prospective studies are needed to investigate this relationship and the role of coping strategies in psychological adaptation to vitreoretinal surgery.