Document Details

Document Type : Thesis 
Document Title :
Psychological Stress and The Immune System in Female University Students
الضغط النفسي والجهاز المناعي لدى طالبات الجامعة
 
Subject : Stress, Psychological--immunology 
Document Language : English 
Abstract : A wealth of research indicates that psychological stress suppresses various parameters of immune functions and consequently can cause diseases. Various studies suggested that acute stress enhances immunity whereas chronic stress suppresses immune functions. One type of acute psychological stress is examination stress which presents as a specific condition of anxiety and tension during examination period. This research studies the effects of examination stress on the immune system in forty one female university students. Blood samples were collected and the immune parameters and lipid profile were measured during the final examination period and during the non final examination period. The analysis of the results was divided into three sections. In the first section, the results of the two periods were compared. In the second, section the students of the two periods were divided into low, intermediate and high stress level groups according to their scores on the perceived stress questionnaire. In the third section, the students of the two periods were divided into low and high stress level groups according to the questionnaire. In the first section, white blood cells, neutrophils, lymphocytes and cortisol hormone increased highly significantly in the examination period. The Red blood cells and IgM antibodies increased significantly, while the IgG antibodies decreased highly significantly. In the second section, the same trends found in the first section were also seen here in the examination period with additional significant increases in monocytes, and eosinophils and no change in the IgM concentration. In the third section, the differences observed compared to the first section were a highly significant increase in basophils and no change in the IgM concentration. In conclusion, this study, especially dependent on section one without using questionnaire, revealed that acute psychological stress during examination period enhanced the immunity of the students. It is recommended that further studies should be carried using a larger sample and using male university students or high school students. 
Supervisor : Sawsan H. Mahassni 
Thesis Type : Master Thesis 
Publishing Year : 1434 AH
2013 AD
 
Number Of Pages : 133 
Added Date : Wednesday, September 11, 2013 

Researchers

Researcher Name (Arabic)Researcher Name (English)Researcher TypeDr GradeEmail
أفراح عبدالله اسكندرEskandar, Afrah AbdullahInvestigatorMaster 

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