Psychosocial Stressors and Salivary Cortisol Levels in A Sample of Healthy Young Adults | ||||
| Suez Canal University Medical Journal | ||||
| Article 9, Volume 18, Issue 1, March 2015, Page 67-73 PDF (473.97 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/scumj.2015.44468 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Author | ||||
Sahar M. Greish 
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| Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt. | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Background: Stress has increasingly become a major concern for public health. It is known that psychological stress could produce physiological effects resembling physical challenges in a variety of physiological systems. Salivary cortisol reliably reflects the hypothalamus-pituitaryadrenocortical axis (HPA) activity. Aim: to describe the risks with constant exposure to stress and to determine its association with salivary cortisol. Patients and Methods: Cross-sectional study of 81 resident physicians working in Suez Canal University Hospital. Occupational psychosocial risk and perceived stress level were assessed with validated version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ). Salivary cortisol was also measured as a biochemical marker of stress in the morning and evening. Results: The physicians reported psychosocial risk factors, particularly high demand on psychological resources and low job control. Cortisol levels were within the normal range. On bivariate analysis, no associations were found between COPSOQ findings and cortisol levels. Conclusions: Resident physicians are in a potentially harmful working situation, although we detected no effect on cortisol level as a biochemical marker of stress. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Stress; salivary Cortisol; Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) | ||||
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