Prospective study of preoperative anxiety and impact on postoperative pain perception and recovery quality in patients undergoing thyroidectomy

Figure 1 Comparison of Visual Analog Scale pain scores and incidence of lower extremity deep vein thrombosis between low and high anxiety groups. A: Comparison of Visual Analog Scale (VAS) pain scores between low and high anxiety groups at 24 hours, 48 hours, and 72 hours postoperatively. Correlation analysis revealed significant positive associations between the preoperative Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Anxiety subscale scores and VAS pain scores at 24 hours (r = 0.52, P < 0.001), 48 hours (r = 0.48, P < 0.001), and 72 hours (r = 0.41, P < 0.001), indicating that higher anxiety levels were consistently associated with greater pain intensity. Error bars represent standard deviation; B: Incidence of lower extremity deep vein thrombosis between low and high anxiety groups. VAS: Visual Analog Scale; DVT: Deep vein thrombosis.