Autonomic Nervous Function in Final Year Oriental Medical Students in Korea: Influence of Gender, Age and Academic Performance

This study was conducted for 11 weeks to evaluate the influence of gender, age and academic performance on autonomic nervous system (ANS) measured by heart rate variability in final year Oriental medical students in Korea. Subjects were 109 Oriental medical students in their final year (11th semester) in the College of Oriental Medicine, Kyung Hee University. The 5-min heart rate variability (HRV) was measured for evaluating ANS of all subjects and then the outcome of HRV was analyzed to investigate the influence of gender, age and academic performance on ANS by analysis of covariance, a model with control variables. Male students were found to have less parasympathetic activity and to have an autonomic balance shifted towards sympathicotonia compared with female students. Increased age was also negatively associated with ANS. Specifically, students aged 30 years or older showed less parasympathetic activity compared to their younger peers. However, there was no statistical significance of ANS between high and low grade group on academic performance. Considering the theory that increased stress could lead to change in ANS and it could decrease parasympathetic activity or increase sympathetic activity, this study suggest that gender and age can affect the stress level of final year Oriental medical students in Korea. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.