--- title: Your Mood Can Predict How Well Your Surgery Goes: Study description: If a patient is in a bad mood, their medical procedure may not go as smoothly, according to a new study. canonical: https://time.com/4131926/your-mood-can-predict-how-well-your-surgery-goes-study/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-03T05:00:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:01:22.745Z article:section: Health og:title: Your Mood Can Predict How Well Your Surgery Goes: Study og:description: If a patient is in a bad mood, their medical procedure may not go as smoothly, according to a new study. og:url: https://time.com/4131926/your-mood-can-predict-how-well-your-surgery-goes-study/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt751cb51a4ac0d9ef/6988604dcf40a8779cc3f555/patient-doctor-office-health-illo.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock health doctor's office patient og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Your Mood Can Predict How Well Your Surgery Goes: Study twitter:description: If a patient is in a bad mood, their medical procedure may not go as smoothly, according to a new study. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt751cb51a4ac0d9ef/6988604dcf40a8779cc3f555/patient-doctor-office-health-illo.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Your Mood Can Predict How Well Your Surgery Goes: Study by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Dec 3, 2015 5:00 AM UTC  Illustration by Sydney Rae Hass for TIME by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Dec 3, 2015 5:00 AM UTC If a patient is in a bad mood, their medical procedure may not go as smoothly, according to a new study. Feeling anxious, stressed or all-around crummy could impact the outcome of a surgical procedure like an angioplasty, suggests the research, which was presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. In the study, the researchers looked at 230 people who underwent minimal vascular and kidney procedures where a catheter was inserted into a blood vessel. Before the procedure, people filled out a questionnaire where they rated various adjectives describing how they felt, including: distressed, upset, guilty, scared, hostile, irritable, ashamed, nervous, jittery and afraid. The study authors found that people who were more likely to have a greater degree of these negative feelings had a greater occurrence of adverse events from the procedure, like slow heart rate or abnormal blood pressure. The findings are just a correlation—not causation—but they’re not the first to show a link between emotions and outcomes. According to study author Dr. Nadja Kadom, an acting associate professor of radiology at Emory University School of Medicine and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, physiological changes like high or low blood pressure or long bleeding times have been linked to negative mood in the past. The researchers suggest that the findings, which need further study, underline a need for health care teams to embrace ways to improve patients’ feelings about the procedure and coping strategies. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4131926/your-mood-can-predict-how-well-your-surgery-goes-study/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4131926/your-mood-can-predict-how-well-your-surgery-goes-study/"},"headline":"Your Mood Can Predict How Well Your Surgery Goes: Study","datePublished":"2015-12-03T05:00:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:01:22.745Z","description":"A new study sheds light on an unexpected factor in surgical outcomes.","url":"https://time.com/4131926/your-mood-can-predict-how-well-your-surgery-goes-study/","keywords":["Research","hospitals","emotions","Surgery","doctors","patients","mood"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt751cb51a4ac0d9ef/6988604dcf40a8779cc3f555/patient-doctor-office-health-illo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt751cb51a4ac0d9ef/6988604dcf40a8779cc3f555/patient-doctor-office-health-illo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIME.com stock health doctor's office patient","caption":"TIME.com stock health doctor's office patient","creditText":"Illustration by Sydney Rae Hass for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4131926/your-mood-can-predict-how-well-your-surgery-goes-study/","name":"Your Mood Can Predict How Well Your Surgery Goes: Study"}}]}] ```