2026 Poster Presentations
P272: HEALTH MINDSET AND PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS IN PATIENTS WITH SELLAR PATHOLOGY UNDERGOING TRANSSPHENOIDAL SURGERY
Abdullah Bhurgri, BS1; Ethan Sage, BS1; Kai Kokesh, BS1; Felix E Férnandez-Penny, BS2; Hector Perez, MD3; Luke O'Neil, MBBS4; Sam Emerson, MD, PhD5; Jacob Ruzevick, MD5; Ian M Humphreys, DO4; Aria Jafari, MD4; 1University of Washington School of Medicine; 2The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine; 3Loma Linda Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery; 4University of Washington Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery; 5University of Washington Department of Neurological Surgery
Introduction: Health mindset and optimism have been associated with differential outcomes in both surgical and medical conditions, often through the mediating effects of health literacy and self-efficacy. A ‘growth mindset’, defined as the belief that abilities and behaviors can improve over time, has been associated with improved outcomes compared to a more rigid or ‘fixed’ mindset, which views abilities as unchangeable. However, limited research has examined the role of health mindset in patients with skull base pathologies. This pilot study aimed to characterize mindset, symptom burden, and demographics in a cohort of patients undergoing endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery (ETSS) for sellar pathology.
Methods: Adult patients (n = 14, ≥18 years) with sellar lesions undergoing ETSS were retrospectively reviewed. Preoperatively, patients completed the Health Mindset Survey (HMS), Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R), Brief Health Literacy Screen (BHLS), and Perceived Health Competence Scale (PHCS), which assess health mindset, optimism, literacy, and self-efficacy, respectively. Higher scores correspond with more positive health perspectives. Clinical and demographic data were collected alongside Sinonasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22) and Skull Base Inventory (SBI) responses. Statistical analyses (ANOVA, paired t-tests, and linear correlation) were performed using Excel and R Studio to evaluate relationships between psychosocial measures, clinicodemographic variables, and disease-specific quality-of-life (QoL) outcomes.
Results: Fourteen patients (8M:6F) were included, with a mean age of 50 ± 23 years. Mean scores were: HMS (mindset) 16.1 ± 2.5, LOT-R (optimism) 16.3 ± 5.4, BHLS (literacy) 13.0 ± 2.1, and PHCS (self-efficacy) 14.0 ± 2.8.
Patients with incidentally discovered compared to symptomatic lesions had higher scores for mindset (17.0 ± 1.7 vs. 15.8 ± 2.6), literacy (14.0 ± 0.0 vs. 12.7 ± 2.3), and self-efficacy (16.0 ± 2.6 vs. 13.5 ± 2.7), though none were statistically significant (all p > 0.05). Additionally, this group reported significantly lower sinonasal (SNOT-22: 0.0 vs. 20.5 ± 14.9 ) and skull base symptom burden (SBI: 97.8 ± 2.0 vs. 73.7 ± 13.3; all p < 0.05).
Increasing age was strongly correlated with increased optimism and self-efficacy (r = 0.78 and r = 0.66, p <0.05 for both), while mindset and literacy showed positive but non-significant trends (p > 0.05). A ‘growth mindset’ (higher HMS score) significantly correlated with higher SBI (r = 0.69, p<0.05) and weakly correlated with lower SNOT-22 (r = –0.10). SBI also showed a positive but non-significant correlation with optimism (r = 0.34).
Conclusion: In this study of patients with sellar pathology undergoing ETSS, health mindset, optimism, literacy, and self-efficacy varied across individuals and were meaningfully associated with symptom burden and age. Growth mindset correlated with greater skull base–specific QoL, while older age was linked to greater optimism and self-efficacy. Incidentally discovered lesions were associated with higher psychosocial scores and lower symptom burden, suggesting clinical context may shape psychosocial profiles. These findings highlight the potential influence of mindset and related factors on clinical outcomes. Larger studies incorporating postoperative data are needed to confirm these associations and assess whether fostering growth mindset or self-efficacy in patient counseling may improve recovery and QoL.
