La ansiedad en estudiantes de odontologíadeterminación de cortisol, alfa-amilasa salival y respuesta cardiovascular ante la realización de diversas actividades académicas

Zusammenfassung

Anxiety has been recently proven to be a risk factor for developing cardiovascular, gastrointestinal or musculoskeletal disorders. In an academic environment, it has been demonstrated that students suffer from long periods of intense stress that could trigger the emotion of anxiety. Anxiety research in Dentistry usually focus on the phobic anxiety some patients suffer when they should have some dental procedure done, but there aren¿t many studies that analyze the impact of the anxiety our students suffer while they are in their training period. The purpose of this study is to determine salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase, heart rate, oxygen saturation and pulse when performing different academic activities such as taking an exam or conducting for the first time one surgical and one restorative treatment on a patient. Both academic activities should be considered sources of stress for Dental students, since heart rate, blood pressure and cortisol levels were found to be increased before taking the exam or performing a procedure on a patient for the first time, to a statistically significant extent (p<0.05). Oxygen saturation and alpha-amylase levels increased prior to the academic activities, however not to a statistically significant extent (p>0.05). No differences were observed in salivary biomarkers concerning gender, though cardiovascular response was higher for male individuals. Due to the long-term consequences it could have on their health, the decline in the student¿s anxiety would be an objective to pursue. The new academic approaches as well as a continuous assessment in the Dentistry degree, will probably help decrease the level of anxiety in our students and influence their performance in a positive manner. Key words: Anxiety, academic stress, dental students, cardiovascular response, salivary cortisol, salivary alpha-amylase.