In this article, the authors describe the results of research carried out on 496 patients, hospitalized at the 'Policlinico' in Bari. The patients were selected on the basic of stratified sampling, proportional to the gender, the type of ward and to the number of beds. Systematic random sampling was conducted at every stratum. The STAI-TEST (State and Trait Anxiety Inventory), by Spielberg et al., was used in the above-mentioned sampling to measure the level of state and trait anxiety in order to verify the relation existing between hospitalization experience, illnesses, characteristic of personality and anxiety. The results have pointed out that subjects with high scores of trait anxiety, maintain the same scores in state anxiety during hospitalization. On the other hand, those with low scores in trait anxiety, present a minimum increase in state anxiety. Moreover, a significant correlation emerges between the level of anxiety and information on the illness (less information, more anxiety), between anxiety and gender (higher in women), more anxiety in subjects affected by chronic-degenerative pathologies
