Revolutionizing Preoperative Care: Pilot Study Highlights the Power of Adaptive Screening for Anxiety and Depression

Serious mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression, are common among surgical patients, yet their prevalence remains largely unknown. These conditions can be associated with certain comorbidities (e.g., cancer) or surgical procedures and their outcomes, yet they are likely under assessed due to the time-consuming and cumbersome nature of traditional screening methods. A recent investigation employed the Computerized Adaptive Test for Mental Health (CAT-MH??), a rapid mental health assessment tool administered on any web-capable device, to screen for the prevalence of depression and anxiety in preoperative patients. This method allowed for rapid, precise, and accurate measurement of numerous mental health disorders, offering preliminary evidence of anxiety and depression in this population.

Efficient mental health screening in the preoperative setting is challenging, creating gaps in knowledge about the prevalence and severity of mental health issues in this population. Routine vital signs and preoperative laboratory tests for conditions such as hypertension and diabetes are completed quickly and with low patient and clinician burden. In contrast, traditional mental health screening methods often involve lengthy questionnaires that require a trained clinician to score and interpret. The CAT-MH??, however, automatically generates accurate results without the need for clinician ratings, streamlining the process. In this study, assessments were completed in an average of under four minutes.

The primary goal of this pilot study was to determine the feasibility of using the CAT-MH?? in a preoperative setting to efficiently and accurately capture data on the prevalence of anxiety and depression in surgical patients. Results from this study suggest that the CAT-MH?? has the potential to revolutionize standardized mental health screening by enabling rapid assessments and identifying undiagnosed patients. Future studies will be needed to determine whether preoperative anxiety and depression are associated with higher risks of adverse surgical outcomes and whether targeted interventions can mitigate this risk.?

This pilot study highlights the value of conducting a larger, more in-depth cohort study using the CAT-MH?? across diverse medical settings and conditions. The flexibility and rapid, accurate screening methods of the CAT-MH??, administered on any web-connected device, combined with the need for clinician rating of questions, demonstrate significant potential for its use in future mental health research.?

For more information about the study, as well as its specific outcomes, read the full study publication available in Anesthesia & Analgesia.