The Relationship between Stress and Natural Killer-Cell Activity in Medical College Students

의대학생드에게 스트레스와 자연살해세포활동 간의 관계

A comparison was made between the effect of subjective stress and that of objective stress on immune function in male medical college students. Interaction between perceived stress, psychopathology and natural killer-cell(NK) activity was assessed during an exam period, non-exam period, and vacation. No significant difference was found in NK activity among these three periods, but scores of perceived stress related to unusual happenings during an exam period and related to interpersonal relationship during vacation were found to have significantly positive correlation with NK activity, respectively. In psychopathology, only scores of anxiety during an exam period had significantly positive correlation with NK activity. These results suggest that immune function is more likely to be affected by subjective stress than objective stress and that subjective stress such as some perceived stress and subclinical level of anxiety may positively affect immune function.