Avaliação do estresse e sua relação com os níveis de cortisol sanguíneo, amilase salivar e desempenho cognitivo em executivos de um grupo empresarial

Abstract

CHAPTER II: The present study examined the incidence of chronic stress in business executives (n=125) and its relation with levels of serum cortisol, cognitive performance and autonomic reactivity after an acute stressor. Lipp\'s Inventory of Stress Symptoms for Adults and the Stroop Color-Word test were used to determine stress incidence and cognitive performance, respectively. The concentration of cortisol was determined in blood by ELISA and the activity of salivary amylase by a kinetic assay. Results revealed that 45% of the subjects investigated experience some sort of stress, and of them, 79% are in the phase of resistance. Subjects who experienced a higher level of stress also showed a higher concentration of cortisol but a lower reactivity of amylase after the Stroop test. Longer reaction times and higher rates of error after the Stroop test were also observed in these subjects. These results suggest that chronic psychological stress is associated with higher levels of serum cortisol and a lower reactivity of amylase towards cognitive demands. Diminished sympathetic activity, as result of chronic exposure to stress, and reflected by lower levels of amylase activity might have been responsible for impairments in selective attention and cognitive performance.