Salivary biomarkers associated with examination stress among MLT final year undergraduates / Farah Dayana Rosli

This study aims to identify the association of academic examination stress with salivary cortisol, salivary Immunoglobulin A (IgA), and salivary alpha-amylase. In addition, this study is also to assess the self-perceived stress before and after an academic examination and its association with the marks scored. Five minutes unstimulated saliva sample were collected from thirty-nine Medical Laboratory Technology (MLT) final year undergraduates before and after a one and a half hour written test. The students also indicated how stress they are on a scale of 1 to 5 rating point, before and immediately after the test. Higher cortisol levels were observed before the exam (p<0.001) and IgA showed higher levels after the exam (p=0.032). No significant differences were observed for alphaamylase before and after the exam (p=0.140). The students perceived a higher level of stress prior to the test (p=0.006). There was a no correlation between before (r=0.098, p=0.554) and after exam self-perceived stress with exam marks (r=-0.294, p=0.126). These findings suggest that salivary cortisol and IgA could be a useful stress biomarker associated with acute stress such as examination.