ObjectiveTo examine the effect of preoperative adverse emotion on rehabilitation outcomes in lung cancer patients undergoing thoracoscopic major pulmonary resection.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 1 438 patients with lung cancer who underwent thoracoscopic lobectomy and segmentectomy in West China Hospital of Sichuan University from February 2017 to July 2018 including 555 males and 883 females. All patients were assessed by Huaxi emotional-distress index scoring, and were divided into three groups including a non-negative emotion group, a mild negative emotion group, and a moderate-severe negative emotion group. All patients underwent thoracoscopic lobectomy or segmentectomy plus systematic lymph node dissection or sampling. The volume of postoperative chest drainage, postoperative lung infection rate, time of chest tube intubation and postoperative duration of hospitalization were compared among these three groups.ResultsThere were different morbidities of adverse emotion in age, sex, education level and smoking among patients before operation (P<0.05). Univariate analysis showed that there was no statistical difference in the duration of indwelling drainage tube, drainage volume, postoperative pulmonary infection rate or the incidence of other complications among these three groups, but the duration of hospitalization in the latter two groups was less than that in the first group with a statistical difference (P<0.05). After correction of confounding factors by multiple regression analysis, there was no statistical difference among the three groups.ConclusionYoung patients are more likely to develop bad emotions, women are more likely to develop serious bad emotions, highly educated patients tend to develop bad emotions, and non-smoking patients tend to develop bad emotions. There is no effect of preoperative adverse emotions on the rapid recovery of lung cancer patients after minimally invasive thoracoscopic surgery.