Examining the Relationship Between Surgical Fear and Health Literacy in Patients Undergoing Open-heart Surgery: A Multicenter Cross-sectional Study

Key Points

• Surgical fear correlates with lower health literacy and higher psychological distress among patients undergoing open-heart surgery.
• Among 250 patients, increased surgical fear was associated with significantly poorer health literacy scores, impacting recovery outcomes.
• Observational analysis across multiple centers evaluated health literacy and surgical fear in patients scheduled for open-heart surgery.
• Findings suggest improving health literacy could reduce surgical fear, highlighting a need for educational interventions.