Psychologic health status of patients undergoing orthognathic surgery.

BACKGROUND: The appearance and dysfunction of deformities may cause psychologic disorders in patients. The aim of this study was to assess the psychologic health status of patients undergoing orthognathic surgery and its relationship with demographic characteristics, social activityof the individuals, and severity of maxillofacial deformity. METHODS: As a tool for assessing the psychologic health status, the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) questionnaire was used on 318 patients undergoing orthognathic surgery at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, China from January 2006 to November 2012. t-Test was used to compare the psychologic health status between the 318 patients and 200 healthy volunteers. Variance analysis (analysis of variance) was applied for assessing the relationship between the psychologic health status and the variables of the study. RESULTS: The SCL-90 total score of the patients undergoing orthognathic surgery was higher than that of the healthy volunteers (P < 0.05). Results of the t-test revealed statistically significant difference (P < 0.05) in the symptom dimensions of obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, and paranoid ideation. An association between sex and the SCL-90 total score was observed (F = 11.293; P = 0.001 and P <0.05). The patients who had regular work presented better psychological health status than did the patients who had no regular work (F = 8.008; P = 0.005 and P < 0.05). The patients who received comfort from family and relatives presented better psychological health status than did the patients who did not receive such help (F = 10.064; P = 0.002 and P < 0.05). The patients who received economic help from family and relatives presented better psychological health status than did the patients who did not receive such help (F = 9.789; P = 0.002 and P < 0.05). An association was found between severity of deformity and psychologic health (F = 6.394; P = 0.002 and P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with jaw deformity have significant psychologic problems and their psychologic health is affected by demographic characteristics, social activity of individuals, and severity of maxillofacial deformity.