Serum Cortisol, Progesterone and Total Antioxidant Status of Students Pre-and Post-Examination

Abstract

Background: Stress is defined as a mental or emotional strain resulting from very demanding circumstances.
In recent years, traumatic episode and poor results following school examination have made stress an
issue of major concern in academics. This study aimed to investigate examination induced stress among
apparently healthy University students in relation to some biochemical parameters and antioxidants status preand post-examination.
Materials and Methods: This is a case controlled study involving 40 examinees as test group and 40
non-examinees as control group. Serum concentrations of cortisol and progesterone were estimated by
ELISA method, and total antioxidants status (TAS) was quantified by colorimetric method. Data obtained
were subjected to statistical analysis using SPSS software application (version 16.0) and the results expressed
as mean ± standard deviation.
Results: The results showed that cortisol level was significantly decreased in pre (34.84±8.50) examination
than in post (21.18±1453) examination while progesterone level was significantly increased from 0.42±0.32
to 0.92±0.96 (p < 0.05) and TAS increased from 0.97±0.05 to 1.02±0.32 (p> 0.05). The mean serum cortisol
in subjects with outstanding academic activity was not statistically significant when compared to subjects
without outstanding academic activity (p>0.05).
Conclusion: the differences in the biochemical parameters observed in this study pre and post examination
suggest that examination has the tendency to induce stress which could culminate to oxidative damage in
chronic cases.