Elective circumcision operation for male children can affect their psychological status.

We aimed to investigate the traumatic effect of the circumcision procedure and the predictive factors that could contribute to this effect.

One hundred and thirty-four children who admitted to urology and child surgery clinics to perform a circumcision procedure were included in the study. The whole group was divided into two groups including general anesthesia (GA) (n = 71) and local anesthesia (LA) (n = 63) groups. The procedure was performed under general and local anesthesia in the relevant groups. All of the participants filled the Child Depression invenTory (CDI), State (SA), and Trait (TA) Anxiety and Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity index (CASI) before the operation, and the Child Posttraumatic Stress Reaction index (CPSRI) 1 month after the operation.

CDI, CASI and TA scores of the children were similar in both groups, however, SA scores of the LA group were higher than GA group (P < 0.001), and CPSRI scores of the GA group were higher than LA group (P = 0.04). When the other parameters were controlled in regression analysis, only CDI scores predicted CPSRI scores in LA group (P = 0.02), and TA scores predicted CPSRI scores in the GA group (P = 0.03).

Children who witness the surgical procedure of the circumcision do not develop serious PTSD symptoms. In contrast, children who experience general anesthesia procedure during circumcision develop more serious PTSD symptoms than children operated with local anesthesia. Trait anxiety and depressive symptom severity may be important in developing PTSD symptoms after circumcision operation.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.