Functional status of medical college students majoring in orthopedic dentistry

Background: At present, diagnostics of premorbid conditions in medical college students is of particular importance owing to the extensive use of modern educational equipment, technologies and materials.

Objective: To assess the functional status of first to third-year medical college students majoring in orthopedic dentistry.

Materials and methods: In April–May 2023, we conducted a cross-sectional study of 182 male students of the medical college at the Volgograd State Medical University, all majoring in orthopedic dentistry. The subjects were divided into three observation cohorts consisting of 66 first-year college students (mean age: 18.29 ± 0.11 years), 60 second-year students (19.84 ± 0.20 years), and 56 third-year students (20.66 ± 0.24 years). We established their heart rate variability and analyzed integrative indicators of functioning of the regulatory systems with a focus on adaptive capacities according to the method by R.M. Baevsky. The functional state of the central nervous system of the students was assessed using variational chronoreflexometry.

Results: We observed balanced heart rate regulation (type 1) in most subjects (73 %). At the same time, by the final year of study the number of students with excessive sympathicotonic reaction was found to increase. Some young men showed an increase in the activity of regulatory systems above normal values. Suboptimal activity of the autonomic nervous system can reduce its efficiency and induce rapid CNS fatigue, which was confirmed by the results of variational chronoreflexometry.

Discussion: We revealed a slight tension of regulatory systems having no adverse health effects in the male students. Yet, excessive sympathicotonic reaction noted in the third-year students indicated predisposition to disruption of mechanisms of adaptive capacity in some young men. Optimization of schoolwork pressure is one of the measures of preventing further negative changes in the functional status of student youth. The assessed score of schooling intensity of future dental technicians was 3.1.

Conclusions: Our findings show that the study load causes increasing tension of the regulatory systems of the body.

They justify the importance of improving the curriculum and developing a set of targeted measures for an increase in functional reserves of medical college students majoring in orthopedic dentistry.

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