BLOOD CHOLESTEROL IN RELATION TO HAEMO-DYNAMIC REACTIVITY UNDER EXAMINATION STRESS

Abstract

Objective: This study was a part of our major work, which was
being conducted on haematological variations and haemodynamic changes among different study groups
,selected from medical students (2001-2003) in order to interpret and establish a base line for understanding the
physiological facts related to such variations and their co-relationship under stress. Design: In this study the
participants were subjected to mental stress during degree examination for the analysis of changes in blood
cholesterol, namely Total Cholesterol (TC), Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL-C), and High Density
Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDLC) in relation with heart rate (HR), pulse rate (PR) , systolic & diastolic blood
pressure ( SBP & DBP) responses. Venous blood samples were collected from the students in fasting condition
along with estimation of all those cardiovascular responses during both, the stress period of examination & nonstress
period of one and half month rest given to them, when there was no such serious academic activity.
Results: The means and standard deviations of differences of stress and non stress conditions for all
cholesterols and cardiovascular observations were evaluated by method of paired sample design. For the level
of significance those results were analyzed by student’s -test and 95% confidence interval. Conclusion: It is
concluded that the variations in TC, LDLC and HLD-C may be due to haemoconcentration under acute mental
stress given to the subjects. As the findings were observed in the fasting group of the subjects, so such related
facts regarding mechanisms affecting the variables of the cholesterols in relation with haemodynamic under
stress changes have been discussed. However further studies may also be needed.