ArticleScientific reports2026
Impact of exam stress and time of day on hand grip fatigue in medical students.
Article in Scientific reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Summative examinations are essential in medical education, but often provoke stress that can impair cognitive and physical performance. This study examined whether exam-related stress affects muscle function by comparing hand grip strength and fatigue on exam versus non-exam days. First-year medical students at ICOM completed three maximal grip trials using a Vernier Hand Dynamometer during four sessions: morning exam and non-exam, afternoon exam and non-exam days. At each session, participants were instructed to squeeze the dynamometer with maximal effort and to maintain peak force for 30 s. Data was analyzed in GraphPad Prism and R, with outcome measures including slope, maximum and average force, area under the curve, and mixed linear modeling. A total of 207 grip profiles from 21 students were collected; 12 completed all sessions. No significant differences were observed in maximum or average peak force or area under the curve. However, regression analysis revealed a statistically significant effect in morning sessions only, where exam-day fatigue occurred more rapidly (p = 0.0013, n = 21). Exam-related stress was associated with accelerated muscle fatigue during morning exams but not in the afternoon. These findings suggest that afternoon testing may mitigate stress-related physiological effects and better preserve performance capacity. The results underscore the potential impact of stress and circadian timing on exam performance and may inform scheduling strategies and wellness interventions in medical education.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.