CORRELACIÓN DE LOS NIVELES DE CORTISOL CON EL ESTRÉS EN ESTUDIANTES DE LA CARRERA DE LABORATORIO CLÍNICO DE LA UNIVERSIDAD TÉCNICA DE AMBATO

Abstract

Currently, stress is a factor that significantly affects academic performance and quality of life of university students. This manifests itself as both a physiological and psychological response to situations perceived as threatening. This thesis work presents an observational, descriptive, cross-sectional cohort study, focused on understanding the relationship between serum cortisol levels and the degree of perceived stress in 80 students from the Clinical Laboratory degree program. The applied methodology involved collecting blood samples from the students to measure cortisol levels using in vitro chemiluminescence immunoassay kits utilizi n g the MAGLUMI-800 series analyzer, as well as administering the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) survey to identify the degree of perceived stress. The results obtained indicated that 6.3% of the participants who presented high levels of perceived stress have high cortisol values, 3.1% have low levels and 90.6% have normal levels. Meanwhile, 100% of the participants who presented low levels of perceived stress also have normal cortisol values. Finally, 2.5% of the participants who presented moderate levels of perceived stress have high cortisol values and 97.5% normal levels.