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Salivary Biomarkers Associated with Academic Assessment Stress Among Dental Undergraduates
Author(s) -
Ng Vivian,
Koh David,
Mok Betty Y.Y.,
Chia SinEng,
Lim LumPeng
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of dental education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.53
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1930-7837
pISSN - 0022-0337
DOI - 10.1002/j.0022-0337.2003.67.10.tb03701.x
Subject(s) - saliva , quartile , medicine , perceived stress scale , immunoglobulin a , clinical psychology , psychology , dentistry , physiology , stress (linguistics) , antibody , immunology , immunoglobulin g , confidence interval , linguistics , philosophy
This study aims to assess the difference in self‐perceived stress before and after an academic assessment and its association with the marks scored and to study the association of salivary cortisol, Immunoglobulin A (IgA), and chromogranin A (CgA) with stress levels before and after the assessment. Thirty‐one third‐year dental undergraduates indicated how stressed they felt on a 5‐point rating scale just prior to and immediately after a one‐hour written test. Five‐minute unstimulated whole saliva samples were also collected at those times to measure salivary cortisol, IgA, and CgA. Students rated significantly higher stress scores before (median [inter quartile range]: 3[1]), compared to after the test (2[2]) (p=0.015). Higher cortisol levels (mean: 6.32 nmol/l) were observed before than after the exam (mean: 5.16 nmol/l) (p=0.015). No significant differences were noted between the pre‐ and post‐test saliva samples for salivary IgA and CgA levels. A negative correlation was seen between post‐test stress scores and test marks (Spearman's r = ‐0.325, p=0.07). Dental students perceived a higher level of stress prior to the test, which declined after that. Pre‐test stress scores were associated with raised salivary cortisol, but not IgA or CgA. Students who perceived higher levels of stress after the test generally had poorer results.