Allostatic Load and Exposure Histories of Disadvantage
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Prior L
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8308019 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:There is a growing interest in understanding how the experience of socioeconomic status (SES) adversity across the life course may accumulate to negatively affect the functioning of biological regulatory systems important to functioning and health in later adulthood. The goal of the present analyses was to examine whether greater life course SES adversity experience would be associated with higher scores on a multi-system allostatic load (AL) index of physiological function in adulthood. Data for these analyses are from 1008 participants (92.2% White) from the Biomarker Substudy of the Study of Midlife in the US (MIDUS). Multiple indicators of SES adversity in childhood (parent educational attainment, welfare status, financial situation) and two points in adulthood (educational attainment, household income, difficulty paying bills, availability of money to meet basic needs, current financial situation) were used to construct SES adversity measures for each life course phase. An AL score was constructed using information on 24 biomarkers from 7 different physiological systems (sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, cardiovascular, lipid metabolism, glucose metabolism, inflammatory immune activity). Analyses indicate higher AL as a function of greater SES adversity at each phase of, and cumulatively across, the life course. Associations were only moderately attenuated when accounting for a wide array of health status, behavioral and psychosocial factors. Findings suggest that SES adversity experience may cumulate across the life course to have a negative impact on multiple biological systems in adulthood. An important aim of future research is the replication of current findings in this predominantly White sample in more ethnically diverse populations.
| S-EPMC3264490 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectivesPrevious studies have found that severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was associated with the physical and psychological stress of those infected. However, research is sparse regarding the long-term health consequence of community SARS exposure for older adults.MethodsUsing data from the 2011 and 2015 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), we estimated multilevel regression models of allostatic load (AL) in the years after the SARS epidemic among 7735 respondents. Interaction terms between SARS epidemic exposure and social participation or community environment were included to examine potential effects.ResultsWe found that community SARS exposure was associated with greater AL for those who had no social participation. Among those who were in worse community environment, community SARS exposure was strongly related to elevated load in the cardiovascular system. However, for those had social participation and lived in better community environment, community SARS exposure manifested no association with AL years later. Active social participation and better community environment could offset the negative association between SARS exposure and AL.ConclusionsTaken together, these findings helped determine the positive direction of future social efforts and policy decisions to guide the global recovery from the devastating COVID-19 pandemic.
| S-EPMC8657524 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Allostatic load is a commonly used metric of health risk based on the hypothesis that recurrent exposure to environmental demands (e.g., stress) engenders a progressive dysregulation of multiple physiological systems. Prominent indicators of response to environmental challenges, such as stress-related hormones, sympatho-vagal balance, or inflammatory cytokines, comprise primary allostatic mediators. Secondary mediators reflect ensuing biological alterations that accumulate over time and confer risk for clinical disease but overlap substantially with a second metric of health risk, the metabolic syndrome. Whether allostatic load mediators covary and thus warrant treatment as a unitary construct remains to be established and, in particular, the relation of allostatic load parameters to the metabolic syndrome requires elucidation. Here, we employ confirmatory factor analysis to test: 1) whether a single common factor underlies variation in physiological systems associated with allostatic load; and 2) whether allostatic load parameters continue to load on a single common factor if a second factor representing the metabolic syndrome is also modeled. Participants were 645 adults from Allegheny County, PA (30-54 years old, 82% non-Hispanic white, 52% female) who were free of confounding medications. Model fitting supported a single, second-order factor underlying variance in the allostatic load components available in this study (metabolic, inflammatory and vagal measures). Further, this common factor reflecting covariation among allostatic load components persisted when a latent factor representing metabolic syndrome facets was conjointly modeled. Overall, this study provides novel evidence that the modeled allostatic load components do share common variance as hypothesized. Moreover, the common variance suggests the existence of statistical coherence above and beyond that attributable to the metabolic syndrome.
| S-EPMC3480389 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionDespite the understanding of allostatic load (AL) as a consequence of ongoing adaptation to stress, studies of the stress-AL association generally focus on a narrow conceptualization of stress and have thus far overlooked potential confounding by personality. The present study examined the cross-sectional association of objective and subjective stress with AL, controlling for Big Five personality traits.MethodsParticipants comprised 5,512 members of the Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank aged 49-63 years (69% men). AL was measured as a summary index of 14 biomarkers of the inflammatory, cardiovascular, and metabolic system. Objective stress was assessed as self-reported major life events in adult life. Subjective stress was assessed as perceived stress within the past four weeks.ResultsBoth stress measures were positively associated with AL, with a slightly stronger association for objective stress. Adjusting for personality traits did not significantly change these associations.ConclusionsThe results suggest measures of objective and subjective stress to have independent predictive validity in the context of personality. Further, it is discussed how different operationalizations of stress and AL may account for some of the differences in observed stress-AL associations.
| S-EPMC6749483 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Structural imaging studies have consistently found reduced gray matter thickness of the cerebral cortex in schizophrenia, a finding that is evident in first episode psychosis and may be progressive in some cases. Although genetic predisposition and medication effects may contribute to cortical thinning, we hypothesize that the cumulative effects of stress may represent an environmental factor impacting brain morphology in schizophrenia. We examined the relationship between allostatic load, an index of peripheral biomarkers representing the cumulative effects of stress, and cortical thickness. Allostatic load was calculated for 44 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) and 33 normal controls (NC) based on 13 cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, immune, and metabolic measurements. Controlling for age, SSD had significantly elevated allostatic load as compared with NC (p=0.008). Controlling for age, whole brain average cortical thickness was lower in SSD patients compared to NC (p=0.008). However, once allostatic load was accounted for, the group difference in cortical thickness became marginal (p=0.058). Exploratory analyses on subcomponents of allostatic load suggested that elevated immune marker C-reactive protein, stress hormones, and cardiovascular indices within allostatic load were more strongly associated with reduced cortical thickness in SSD. In NC, only the association between immune marker C-reactive protein and cortical thickness was replicated. These results support the hypothesis that allostatic load may account for some of the gray matter deficits observed in schizophrenia. Among the allostatic indices, the inflammatory mechanism appears particularly relevant to cortical thickness in both schizophrenia patients and normal controls.
| S-EPMC5336512 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Residing in socioeconomically deprived neighborhoods may pose substantial physiological stress, which can then lead to higher allostatic load (AL), a marker of biological wear and tear that precedes disease. The aim of the present study was to map the current evidence about the relationship between neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation and AL. A scoping review approach was chosen to provide an overview of the type, quantity, and extent of research available. The review was conducted using three bibliographic databases (PubMed, SCOPUS, and Web of Science) and a standardized protocol. Fourteen studies were identified. Studies were predominantly from the USA, cross-sectional, focused on adults, and involved different races and ethnic groups. A wide range of measures of AL were identified: the mode of the number of biomarkers per study was eight but with large variability (range: 6?24). Most studies (n = 12) reported a significant association between neighborhood deprivation and AL. Behaviors and environmental stressors seem to mediate this relationship and associations appear more pronounced among Blacks, men, and individuals with poor social support. Such conclusions have important public health implications as they enforce the idea that neighborhood environment should be improved to prevent physiological dysregulation and consequent chronic diseases.
| S-EPMC6024893 | biostudies-other
Project description:This study examines how the social environment is related to allostatic load (AL), a multisystem index of biological risk.A national sample of adults (N = 949) aged 34-84 rated their relationships with spouse, family, and friends at 2 time points 10 years apart. At the second time point, participants completed a biological protocol in which indices of autonomic, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, cardiovascular, inflammatory, and metabolic function were obtained and used to create an AL summary score. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine the associations among 3 aspects of social relationships-social support, social negativity, and frequency of social contact-and AL.Higher levels of spouse negativity, family negativity, friend contact, and network level contact were each associated with higher AL, and higher levels of spouse support were associated with lower AL, independent of age, sociodemographic factors, and health covariates. Tests for age interactions suggested that friend support and network support were each associated with higher AL among older adults, but at younger ages there appeared to be no association between friend support and AL and a negative association between network support and AL. For network negativity, there was a marginal interaction such that network negativity was associated with higher AL among younger adults but there was no association among older adults.These findings demonstrate that structural and functional aspects of the social environment are associated with AL, and extend previous work by demonstrating that these associations vary based on the type of relationship assessed and by age.
| S-EPMC4104264 | biostudies-literature
Project description:OBJECTIVE:Dysregulation across multiple physiological systems, referred to as allostatic load, has pervasive consequences for an individual's health. The present study examined whether allostatic load is associated with personality and personality changes during a 4-year follow-up. METHODS:A total of 5200 participants aged from 50 to 99 years (59.5% women, mean [standard deviation] age = 66.91 [8.88] years) from the Health and Retirement Study provided data on cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune markers at baseline and personality both at baseline and at 4 years later. RESULTS:Higher allostatic load was related to higher neuroticism (? = 0.03, p = .042), lower extraversion (? = -0.06, p < .001), and lower conscientiousness (? = -0.06, p < .001) at baseline, and to declines in extraversion (? = -0.03, p = .007), conscientiousness (? = -0.04, p < .001), and agreeableness (? = -0.02, p = .020) over the 4-year period, controlling for demographic covariates. A significant quadratic relation between allostatic load and changes in openness (? = -0.03, p = .002) suggested that openness declines when individuals exceed a high level of cumulative physiological dysregulation. No association was found with changes in neuroticism. CONCLUSIONS:Allostatic load is associated with personality change across adulthood and old age. The findings indicate that physiological dysregulation across multiple systems challenges personality stability and is associated with accelerated personality traits change.
| S-EPMC5481782 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionThe concept of allostatic load encompasses the cumulative effects of both ordinary daily life events as well as major challenges, and also includes related health-damaging behavior. Allostatic overload ensues when environmental challenges exceed the individual's ability to cope. Identification of allostatic load is carried out through the use of biomarkers and clinimetric criteria. Studies are increasingly reported on allostatic load in younger populations, yet a systematic review is missing.ObjectiveThe aim of the present systematic review was to summarize the current knowledge on allostatic load/overload among children and adolescents.MethodsPubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library were searched from inception to April 2023. A manual search of the literature was also performed. We considered only studies in which allostatic load or overload were adequately described and assessed in either clinical or non-clinical populations younger than 18 years.ResultsA total of 38 original investigations were included in this systematic review. Studies reported an association between allostatic load and sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., poverty, ethnicity, perceived discrimination, adverse childhood experiences) and environmental factors, as well as consequences of allostatic load on both physical and mental health among children and adolescents.ConclusionsThe findings indicate that greater allostatic load is associated with poorer health outcomes in both clinical and non-clinical pediatric populations, with possible enduring effects. The results support the clinical utility of the transdiagnostic identification of allostatic load and overload in children and adolescents across a variety of settings, with a number of potential clinical implications.
| S-EPMC10716875 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Allostatic load (AL) represents cumulative wear-and-tear on the body and is operationalized as a multisystem index of biomarkers. Allostatic load is associated with morbidities and mortality, leading to a growing body of literature that uses AL as an outcome in its own right. Psychosocial resources (PSRs), such as mastery and social support, may influence health outcomes in part via AL, and the current review seeks to characterize the relations between PSRs and AL.A systematic review was conducted by searching PubMed, CINAHL Plus, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Embase for studies examining the relation between PSR(s) and AL in humans. From 1,417 abstracts screened, 60 full-text articles were reviewed, and 24 studies met inclusion criteria.Mixed evidence exists for a relationship between PSRs and AL. Most (14/24) studies used a cross-sectional design, and only one study investigated whether a PSR predicted change in AL. Compared to cross-sectional studies, longitudinal studies were more likely to report a significant relationship (8/14 versus 8/10, respectively). Studies with statistically significant main or moderated effects had larger sample sizes than those reporting null effects. Whether a study reported a significant main or moderated relationship did not differ by whether psychological (8/11) or social (10/16) resources were assessed.Evidence for a relationship between PSRs and AL is equivocal, and obtained significant relationships are generally small in magnitude. Gaps in the current literature and directions for future research are discussed. Longitudinal studies are needed that repeatedly assess PSRs and AL.
| S-EPMC5374015 | biostudies-other