Clinical and immunological characteristics of medical students depending on the duration and program of study

Abstract

Chronic psycho-emotional stress can cause dysfunction of neuroimmunoendocrine dysregulation with consequences in the form of a violation of the functional potential of the immune system. Adaptation to new living conditions at the start of studies at a medical university is one of the inevitable circumstances that first-year students overcome. Education under the military training program at a medical university carries an additional stress load in this aspect. Research on the mechanisms of formation of adaptive reactions of the immune system during training under the military training program for officers of the medical service is of undoubted interest. The purpose of the study was to compare the clinical manifestations of immune-mediated pathology and the parameters of adaptive and innate immunity of medical students depending on the length of service and training program. Under observation were 104 medical students, all men, of which 37 were first-year students and 67 were third-year students of a medical university. The subjects of each course were divided into two subgroups depending on the training program. The group of first-year students consisted of 18 people from the military training center (VTC) and 19 people from the medical and preventive faculty (LPF). Among the third-year students of the VUC – 31, LPF – 36. For the clinical characterization of the incidence during the year of study, registration cards for the analysis of immune-mediated pathology were used, the parameters of the immune system at the end of the spring semester were studied using standard methodological approaches. The data obtained indicate that in the first year students with an additional load in the form of a military training program have a more difficult time adapting to learning in comparison with first-year students of the medical faculty. These differences consist in a more frequent and significant clinical manifestation of infectious pathology and are reflected in the functional potential of cellular parameters of innate immunity. The statement of signs of inhibition of the functional potencies of macrophage cells and natural killers in firstyear students of a military training center is an alarming factor in the possible disruption of the adaptive reserves of the immune response system, which probably suggests the need to develop programs to prevent the negative impact of stress-forming factors. By the third year of study, the students of the military training center have the best clinical and immunological indicators of the functioning of the immune system in comparison with the students of the standard educational program of general practitioners. It is likely that during this period the process of psychological adaptation of military medical students is completed.

Keywords

• psycho-emotional stress
• adaptation
• students
• natural killers
• immune dysregulation
• stress-forming factors