Acute and chronic stress increase salivary cortisol: a study in the real-life setting of a national examination undertaken by medical graduates

Autor:	Joaquín González-Cabrera, Jose M. Peinado, María Fernández-Prada, Concepción Iribar-Ibabe
Rok vydání:	2014
Předmět:	Adult Male Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System medicine.medical_specialty Educational measurement Students Medical Medical psychology Cortisol awakening response Hydrocortisone Personality Inventory Performance Anxiety Physiology education Specialty Pituitary-Adrenal System Severity of Illness Index Young Adult Behavioral Neuroscience Surveys and Questionnaires Severity of illness medicine Humans Young adult Saliva Endocrine and Autonomic Systems business.industry Anticipation Psychological Circadian Rhythm Test (assessment) Psychiatry and Mental health Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology Spain Family medicine Medicine Female Educational Measurement Personality Assessment Inventory business Stress Psychological Clinical psychology
Zdroj:	Stress. 17:149-156
ISSN:	1607-8888 1025-3890
DOI:	10.3109/10253890.2013.876405
Popis:	Spanish medical graduates who apply for a medical specialty training position (MIR) must take an examination that will shape their future personal and professional lives. Preparation for the test represents an important stressor that persists for several months. The aim of this study was to elucidate the stress pattern of this group and evaluate possible changes in the circadian rhythm of cortisol release in medical graduates preparing for this test. A repeated-measures longitudinal study was performed, measuring the salivary cortisol concentrations in 36 medical graduates (13 males and 23 females; mean age of 24.2 years) on five sampling days. Five cortisol samples were collected from 07:00 to 21:00 h in order to monitor changes in the circadian rhythm. On all sampling days (except on the day of the official examination), anxiety and psychological stress were evaluated with the Spanish versions of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). During the study period, participants showed higher levels of anxiety than the Spanish reference population as well as a progressive increase in self-perceived stress. A significant increase in salivary cortisol concentration was observed in both chronic (study and examination preparation) and acute (examinations) situations. Our results suggest that the cortisol awakening response (CAR) may be a good indicator of anticipatory stress but is unaffected by long-term examination preparation. Comparison of results between the official examination day and the mock examination days yielded evidence that learning may modulate the behavior of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.
Databáze:	OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz:	https://explore.openaire.eu/search/publication?articleId=doi_dedup___::6bdb392f5869d554a836447169765f4e https://doi.org/10.3109/10253890.2013.876405 Zobrazit plný text záznamu Plný text ve formátu PDF Plný text ve formátu HTML
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