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a Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychiatry, and Biobehavioral Sciences UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Los Angeles, California 90024, USA
Key Words: stress • allostatic load • PTSD • cortisol • trauma
Address for correspondence: Dorie Glover, Ph.D., UCLA Semel Institute, 760 Westwood Plaza, Room 68-237, Los Angeles, CA 90024. Voice: 310-794-1642; fax: 310-206-3373. e-mail: dglover{at}mednet.ucla.edu
Allostatic load (AL) is the cumulative physiological "cost" of prolonged stress. An AL composite measure successfully predicts morbidity and mortality among the elderly but has not been reported in "high stress" samples with postraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Accordingly, AL was measured in mothers (ages 29–55) of pediatric cancer survivors and control mothers of healthy children. A significant "dose-response" pattern (high to low AL) emerged: cancer mothers meeting all PTSD criteria, cancer mothers with no/low symptoms, and controls, respectively. Results indicate elevated AL can be detected in relatively young women with high stress histories, and particularly those with PTSD.
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