title: Effect of the stress of medical residency training on the overnight dexamethasone suppression test.
abstract: Forty-two medical residents and interns were studied to evaluate the effect of the stress of medical residency training on-call nights on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Dexamethasone 1 mg was given at 11:00 p.m. on two separate occasions; a control (off-call) night and on on-call night. Plasma cortisol was measured between 8:00-9:00 a.m. the following morning. The number of patient admissions during the on-call night and the number of hours of sleep during both on-call and control nights were recorded. Plasma cortisol decreased to < 138 nmol/l (< 5 micrograms/dl) in 41 out of 42 (97.6%) of the participants following an on-call day and in 40 out of 42 (95.2%) participants after the control day. The number of hours of sleep during the on-call night was 3.9 +/- 0.29 and during the control night 7.0 +/- 0.11 hours and the number of patient admissions was 3.1 +/- 0.3. In conclusion General Internal Medicine on-call experience does not produce significant alteration on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.
authors.affiliation: University of California, Davis Medical Center, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Sacramento, USA.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Benbarka
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003907:Dexamethasone; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000502:physiology; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000502:physiology; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D003907:Dexamethasone; D006854:Hydrocortisone