Abstract
Students find the medical curriculum stressful and it has been shown in the most physiological studies. This study aims to assess the stress and correlation between stress levels and cardiovascular parameters, reaction times prior to their final internal assessment examination. The present study was carried out at Rajarajeswari medical college and hospital, Bangalore. A total of 230 healthy MBBS students were recruited, study group - 130 MBBS students appearing for their final internal assessment examination and control group - 100 MBBS students who did not have any examination. Subjects who had any medical and psychiatric illnesses, auditory and visual disturbance, smokers, with h/o alcohol intake were excluded. Students Stress Questionnaires were distributed first to all the students. Anthropometry was done. Pulse rate and blood pressure were recorded by palpating and sphygmomanometer respectively. Auditory and visual reaction times were recorded by using reaction time apparatus prior to their internal assessment examination. Approval from the Institutional ethical committee and written consent was obtained. Statistical analysis was done by using SAS 9.2, SPSS 15.0 software. Pulse rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, auditory and visual reaction time and stress scores were significantly increased in the study group as compared to control group prior to their examination. Our study showed positive correlation between stress score and age which was statistically significant.
Conclusion: It was observed that medical students are exposed to stress especially before the internal examination. Changes were seen in cardiovascular parameters and cognitive function which may affect their academic performance.

Key words: stress, cardiovascular parameters, auditory reaction time, visual reaction time