According to previous research, ambulance personnel often consider themselves as healthy, but at the same time several studies show that they suffer from several stress-related illnesses, take early retirement and even suffer early death. The aim of this study was to explore mental stress during the Trier Social Stress Test. Questions were whether heart rate measurement could replace cortisol concentration in saliva as an indicator of stress and if there were differences between genders. During 20 Trier Social Stress Tests heart rate and salivary cortisol concentrations were measured. Heart rate was measured every 15 seconds and salivary cortisol was collected at seven occasions. Fourteen men and six women (sixteen ambulance nurses and four paramedics) participated. A questionnaire with background data was collected. Statistical analysis used was non-parametric tests to adjust for misalignment. During the Trier Social Stress Test women had their highest salivary cortisol concentration before start of test while the maximum values for men were 10 to 20 minutes after start. In contrast, there was no difference in heart rhythm before, during and after test between genders. No correlation between heart rate and salivary cortisol was found. There was no significant difference in stress response according to personnel’s age or level of education. Women and men exhibit different hormonal stress responses when it comes to performing unfamiliar actions, something that has not been seen before. Since no correlation could be seen between heart rate and salivary cortisol concentration they cannot replace each other as indicators of stress.
| Published in | Journal of Health and Environmental Research (Volume 5, Issue 1) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.jher.20190501.13 |
| Page(s) | 14-23 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Ambulance Personnel, Heart Rate, Salivary Cortisol, Stress, Trier Social Stress Test
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APA Style
Kåre Karlsson, Patrik Persson Niemelä, Anders Jonsson, Carl-Johan Törnhage. (2019). Stress Response in Swedish Ambulance Personnel Evaluated by Trier Social Stress Test. Journal of Health and Environmental Research, 5(1), 14-23. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jher.20190501.13
ACS Style
Kåre Karlsson; Patrik Persson Niemelä; Anders Jonsson; Carl-Johan Törnhage. Stress Response in Swedish Ambulance Personnel Evaluated by Trier Social Stress Test. J. Health Environ. Res. 2019, 5(1), 14-23. doi: 10.11648/j.jher.20190501.13
AMA Style
Kåre Karlsson, Patrik Persson Niemelä, Anders Jonsson, Carl-Johan Törnhage. Stress Response in Swedish Ambulance Personnel Evaluated by Trier Social Stress Test. J Health Environ Res. 2019;5(1):14-23. doi: 10.11648/j.jher.20190501.13
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Download@article{10.11648/j.jher.20190501.13,
author = {Kåre Karlsson and Patrik Persson Niemelä and Anders Jonsson and Carl-Johan Törnhage},
title = {Stress Response in Swedish Ambulance Personnel Evaluated by Trier Social Stress Test},
journal = {Journal of Health and Environmental Research},
volume = {5},
number = {1},
pages = {14-23},
doi = {10.11648/j.jher.20190501.13},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jher.20190501.13},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jher.20190501.13},
abstract = {According to previous research, ambulance personnel often consider themselves as healthy, but at the same time several studies show that they suffer from several stress-related illnesses, take early retirement and even suffer early death. The aim of this study was to explore mental stress during the Trier Social Stress Test. Questions were whether heart rate measurement could replace cortisol concentration in saliva as an indicator of stress and if there were differences between genders. During 20 Trier Social Stress Tests heart rate and salivary cortisol concentrations were measured. Heart rate was measured every 15 seconds and salivary cortisol was collected at seven occasions. Fourteen men and six women (sixteen ambulance nurses and four paramedics) participated. A questionnaire with background data was collected. Statistical analysis used was non-parametric tests to adjust for misalignment. During the Trier Social Stress Test women had their highest salivary cortisol concentration before start of test while the maximum values for men were 10 to 20 minutes after start. In contrast, there was no difference in heart rhythm before, during and after test between genders. No correlation between heart rate and salivary cortisol was found. There was no significant difference in stress response according to personnel’s age or level of education. Women and men exhibit different hormonal stress responses when it comes to performing unfamiliar actions, something that has not been seen before. Since no correlation could be seen between heart rate and salivary cortisol concentration they cannot replace each other as indicators of stress.},
year = {2019}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Stress Response in Swedish Ambulance Personnel Evaluated by Trier Social Stress Test AU - Kåre Karlsson AU - Patrik Persson Niemelä AU - Anders Jonsson AU - Carl-Johan Törnhage Y1 - 2019/03/19 PY - 2019 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jher.20190501.13 DO - 10.11648/j.jher.20190501.13 T2 - Journal of Health and Environmental Research JF - Journal of Health and Environmental Research JO - Journal of Health and Environmental Research SP - 14 EP - 23 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2472-3592 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jher.20190501.13 AB - According to previous research, ambulance personnel often consider themselves as healthy, but at the same time several studies show that they suffer from several stress-related illnesses, take early retirement and even suffer early death. The aim of this study was to explore mental stress during the Trier Social Stress Test. Questions were whether heart rate measurement could replace cortisol concentration in saliva as an indicator of stress and if there were differences between genders. During 20 Trier Social Stress Tests heart rate and salivary cortisol concentrations were measured. Heart rate was measured every 15 seconds and salivary cortisol was collected at seven occasions. Fourteen men and six women (sixteen ambulance nurses and four paramedics) participated. A questionnaire with background data was collected. Statistical analysis used was non-parametric tests to adjust for misalignment. During the Trier Social Stress Test women had their highest salivary cortisol concentration before start of test while the maximum values for men were 10 to 20 minutes after start. In contrast, there was no difference in heart rhythm before, during and after test between genders. No correlation between heart rate and salivary cortisol was found. There was no significant difference in stress response according to personnel’s age or level of education. Women and men exhibit different hormonal stress responses when it comes to performing unfamiliar actions, something that has not been seen before. Since no correlation could be seen between heart rate and salivary cortisol concentration they cannot replace each other as indicators of stress. VL - 5 IS - 1 ER -
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