Objective: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused great fear and stress in both patients and healthy individuals. To investigate attitudes toward and anxieties about and stress levels related to COVID-19 among patients who reappointed elective endoscopy procedures.
Materials and Methods: A total of 106 consecutive patients who underwent endoscopy were included. The independent variables were demographic information, previous COVID-19 history, hospitalization history, and death in the family; the dependent variables were the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) score and the Fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S) score.
Results: Three quarters of the participants said that the endoscopy procedure could spread COVID-19 and that additional measures were needed to prevent spread. The same group also stated that the disease could be transmitted from the materials used in the procedure. According to FCV-19S, individuals over the age of 65 and individuals with a history of hospitalisation due to COVID-19 and working individuals with a university degree are most afraid of the procedure, while according to PSS-10, individuals who have lost relatives due to COVID-19 and/or who frequently wear masks are afraid of the contagious risk of the procedure. FCV-19S and PSS-10 show statistically significant correlations positively with age and number of previous Covid-19s and negatively with educational level.
Conclusions: Although the frequency of the pandemic has decreased, according to this study, anxiety and fear related to COVID-19 continue in individuals who re-applied after the elective endoscopy procedure was postponed by hospitals during the pandemic period, and we think that this situation will pave the way for patients to apply to endoscopy units delayed in case of a pandemic again.