World Journal of
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PARASYMPATHETIC REACTIVITY AMONG HEALTHY, NEPALI MEDICAL STUDENTS

Amatya Shripa*, Swastika Hada and Lokendra Acharya

ABSTRACT

Autonomic function test is a non invasive measure of autonomic reactivity to different stressors. This study was undertaken to determine the effect of gender on parasympathetic reactivity in healthy, Nepali medical students and compare its differences between the offsprings of parental hypertension and those without. Three cardiovascular reflex tests were used to test the parasympathetic function: Heart rate response to a) Deep breathing b) Standing and c) Valsalva Maneuver. The volunteers were asked if their parents were hypertensive and those self reported cases were used as an assessment of parental hypertension. 25 male and 25 female MBBS I and II year students volunteered for the study. The result on comparison of three cardio reflex tests amongst males and females suggested that females have a higher parasympathetic activity compared to males which was statistically significant. Male students who reported that their parents were hypertensive were found to have a significantly higher resting diastolic blood pressure (albeit still within the normotensive range) than those with normotensive parents (P<0.01). A similar difference was not found for females with a parental history of hypertension.

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