Fernand-Seguin Research Centre, University of Montreal, Canada.
Physiol Behav. 2011 Aug 3;104(2):360-4. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.02.027. Epub 2011 Feb 23.
Allostatic load represents the strain that chronic stress exerts on interconnected biological systems. Associated algorithms are related to numerous deleterious physical outcomes in older populations, and yet few studies have assessed associations to mental health outcomes like geriatric depression. Using data from the Douglas Hospital Longitudinal Study of Normal and Pathological Aging, we assessed whether using an allostatic load index derived from seven biomarkers could detect self-rated depressive symptoms in 58 healthy older adults followed longitudinally over a 6-year period. Our results revealed that increased allostatic load was associated with increased depressive symptoms on the same year of assessment. After 3 years, AL was prospectively associated with depressive symptoms, but entering age and sex as covariates attenuated this effect to a trend. Only age emerged as a significant predictor of depressive symptoms over 6 years. These findings suggest that increased AL in older age is only associated with depressive symptomatology acutely. Over longer periods of time, however, the physical and psychological sequelae of advanced age may contribute to increased depressive symptoms via pathways otherwise undetectable using allostatic load indices of sub-clinical physiological dysregulations.
应激反应负荷代表慢性应激对相互关联的生物系统施加的压力。相关算法与老年人群中许多有害的身体结果有关，但很少有研究评估与心理健康结果（如老年抑郁症）的关联。本研究使用来自道格拉斯医院正常和病理性衰老纵向研究的数据，评估了从七个生物标志物得出的应激反应负荷指数是否可以在 58 名健康老年人中检测到随时间推移的自我报告抑郁症状。我们的结果表明，在同一年评估中，应激反应负荷增加与抑郁症状增加相关。3 年后，AL 与抑郁症状呈前瞻性相关，但将年龄和性别作为协变量纳入后，这种影响减弱为趋势。只有年龄在 6 年内成为抑郁症状的显著预测因子。这些发现表明，在老年时期，应激反应负荷增加仅与急性抑郁症状相关。然而，在更长的时间内，高龄的身体和心理后果可能通过应激反应负荷指数无法检测到的亚临床生理失调途径导致抑郁症状增加。
