ArticleBioPsychoSocial medicine2023
Cardiac autonomic and cortisol stress responses to real operations in surgeons: relationship with individual psychobiological characteristics and experience.
Article in BioPsychoSocial medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Non-pharmacological interventions to reduce postoperative anxiety in total hip arthroplasty: a systematic review.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2026Pooled it
- Emergency department eCPR: an exploratory observational study of human factors.BMC emergency medicine · 2026Observational
- Clinicians' Stress Levels During Soft Tissue Augmentation Using Autogenous Connective Tissue Grafts: A Pilot Study.Clinical implant dentistry and related research · 2026Article
- If I Had a Hammer: The Role of Automated Impactors in Transforming Total Hip Arthroplasty Procedures and Recovery.Arthroplasty today · 2026Article
- Surgical paradox: physiological activation and improved mood state during surgical work in pediatric surgeons.Journal of occupational health · 2026Article
- Surgeons' physiological parameters and surgical performance: a systematic scoping review.Patient safety in surgery · 2025Review
- How Much Does Stress Cost? A Case-Control Study on Vagally Mediated Heart Rate Variability Responses in Anxious and Non-Anxious Individuals During a Cognitive Task.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Handling Risky Situations, Especially the Unexpected, With Elite Performance.Journal of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America · 2025Article
- Association between heart rate variability and ECG changes in on-duty prehospital physicians.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
- Ophthalmologists' assessment of the handling characteristics of the novel Finesse Reflex Handle in comparison to those of a conventional handle.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Defining the acute care surgeon: American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) panel discussion on full-time employment, compensation and career trajectory.Trauma surgery & acute care open · 2024Article
- The Effect of Craniosacral Therapy on Blood Levels of Stress Hormones in Male Firefighter Cadets: A Randomized Clinical Trial.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSurgeons are exposed to high levels of intraoperative stress, which could compromise their psychological well-being in the long term. This study aimed at exploring the effects of real operations on the activity of stress response systems (i.e., cardiac autonomic function and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis) during and in the aftermath of surgery, and the moderating role of individual psychobiological characteristics and different levels of experience (senior vs expert surgeons).
methodsHeart rate, heart rate variability, and salivary cortisol measures (as indexes of cardiac autonomic and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity, respectively) were assessed during real operations and in the perioperative period in a sample of surgeons (n = 16). Surgeons' psychometric characteristics were collected using questionnaires.
resultsReal operations triggered both cardiac autonomic and cortisol stress responses which were independent from surgeons' level of experience. Intraoperative stress responses did not affect cardiac autonomic activity during the following night but were associated with a blunted cortisol awakening response. Moreover, senior surgeons reported higher levels of negative affectivity and depressive symptoms than expert surgeons prior to the surgery. Lastly, the magnitude of heart rate responses to surgery positively correlated with scores on negative affectivity, depression, perceived stress, and trait anxiety scales.
conclusionThis exploratory study allows to put forward the hypotheses that in surgeons cardiac autonomic and cortisol stress responses to real operations (i) may be associated with specific individual psychological characteristics regardless of the level of experience, (ii) and may have a longer lasting impact on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function with potential implications for surgeons' physical and psychological well-being.
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