Stress is the physiological and behavioral adaptive response of the body to various stressors. If the stress response is short-lived or. acute, it is beneficial, because it allows the maintenance of a stable internal environment and does not pose a health burden in healthy individuals. Conversely, repeated or continuous exposure to stressors leads to the development of a chronic stress response and consequently low-grade chronic inflammation. This can lead to the development of various chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and others. One of the risk factors for developing these conditions is occupational stress. Paramedics are especially prone to this, as they are more exposed to stressors than some other professions due to longer working hours and shift work. The purpose of the master's thesis was to determine whether paramedics are differently exposed to chronic stress during work shifts and non-working days and whether they are more susceptible to stress than the rest of the healthy population.
Exposure to chronic stress was determined by measuring biochemical markers in 43 paramedics employed at the Ljubljana Rescue Station. In these, samples were collected at the beginning and end of the day shift, before and after the night shift, and in the morning and evening during the day off. By measuring cortisol, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-10, we monitored the development of the chronic stress response and distinguished between the phases of the transition from acute to chronic stress response, while we monitored the consequences of chronic stress by determining VEGF-A. For cortisol, IL-8 to IL-10, we demonstrated that exposure to stress in the night shift was statistically significantly different from the day shift and the day off, however, the difference between the daily shift and the day off could not be demonstrated with any marker. In addition, we showed that the median of measurement of cortisol, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-10 differs from the median of a comparable population. We found that rescuers are more exposed to stress during the night shift compared to the day shift and the day off, as night work is subject to a greater number of stressors. We also showed that rescuers are more susceptible to stress than comparable population. We concluded that cortisol and cytokines are appropriate markers of the development of a chronic stress response and related disease states, while VEGF-A is a potential indicator of the effects of stress, so further research into its roles in stress states is needed.
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