Introduction: This study was conducted to determine the relationship between pre- and post-operative chest pain and anxiety and vital signs in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.
Methods: The research was conducted as a descriptive-relationship study. The data were collected between October and December 2022 through a face-to-face survey method in the coronary intensive care unit of a heart hospital in the European side of Istanbul. A total of 185 patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention and lasting pain after the procedure responded to the questionnaire. The data were obtained by using the Patient Information Form, Numerical Rating Scale (NRS), State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and vvital signs follow-up form.
Results: The NRS score before the procedure was 7.06, while that after the procedure was 3.21 (p<0.05). The State Anxiety Score before the procedure was 61.56, while that after the procedure was 32.36 (p<0.05). The pre-procedural pain varied by 78.7% in the anxiety score and 29.8% in the post-procedure anxiety score. The effect size of pain was 2.90, while that of anxiety was 3.10. Age, gender, and marital status of the patients were insignificant (p>0.05) in terms of the pre- and post-operative pain, anxiety, and life follow-up. The relationship between previous hospitalization and stent placement and pain, anxiety, and vital signs (p=0.00, p<0.05) was significant. A positive correlation was found between the NRS and the STAI (p<0.05). While it was significant in pain, anxiety, heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory count before and after the procedure (p<0.05), it was insignificant in saturation and body temperature (p>0.05).
Discussion and Conclusion: While the increase in pain increased the measurements of the anxiety level and vital signs, it improved the anxiety level and vital signs with its decrease. According to the results, research can be recommended about the ability of patients to identify pain to provide education for early hospital admission before the pain score increases.
Keywords: Anxiety; Pain; Percutaneous coronary intervention; Vital signs
, Burcu Dedeoğlu Demir2 
