Effect of Examination stress on heart rate, blood pressure and white blood cells.

Abstract

Objectives: To analyze the effects of Examination stress on heart rate, blood pressure and white blood cells among medical college students. Study Design: Observational study. Setting: Department of Pathology, Indus Medical College, Tando Muhammad Khan Sindh. Period: September 2018 to April 2019. Material & Methods: 200 medical students were selected according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Heart rate was measured manually. Systemic Blood pressure (BP) was recorded by Sphygmomanometer. Mean arterial BP was calculated as diastolic BP+1/3 of pulse pressure. Blood slides were stained with Leishman`s stain and white blood cells were counted using microscope.  Data was analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (ver 22.0) for windows Microsoft. Results: Age of study subjects was noted as 20.23±1.23 years.  Body weight and Body mass index (BMI) were noted as 64.93±7.53 Kg (P=0.0001) and 27.5±5.3 (P=0.67). Of total 200, 109 (54.5%) were male and 91 (45.5%) were female (P=0.0001). Heart rate, Systolic, Diastolic and Mean arterial BP differed significantly before and after examination stress (P<0.05). White blood cells before examination were found as 7310.43±708.5 x10³/µL compared to 8202.39±677.26 during examination stress (P=0.0001). Conclusion: Examination stress perturbs the physiological homeostasis as changes in heart rate, blood pressure and White blood cells are noted among medical students. Psychological and physical strategies for coping the stress should be considered for the young medical students.