Allostatic load in the context of disasters

Sandifer, Paul A.; Juster, Robert‐Paul; Seeman, Teresa E.; Lichtveld, Maureen Y.; Singer, Burton H.

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2022.105725

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 98 publications

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“…In-clinic health assessments may also incorporate measurements of cumulative and harmful psychosocial and physiological stress (i.e., allostatic load) via specially designed psychological questionnaires and physiological biomarkers derived from biological specimens ( 51 ). Biological specimens collected would be deposited in a secure biobank for use, with all necessary and appropriate safeguards and standardization of methods ( Figure 3 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking coastal environmental and health observations for human wellbeing

Sandifer

2023

Front. Public Health

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Coastal areas have long been attractive places to live, work, and recreate and remain so even in the face of growing threats from global environmental change. At any moment, a significant portion of the human population is exposed to both positive and negative health effects associated with coastal locations. Some locations may be “hotspots” of concern for human health due to ongoing climatic and other changes, accentuating the need for better understanding of coastal environment-human health linkages. This paper describes how environmental and health data could be combined to create a coastal environmental and human health observing system. While largely based on information from the US and Europe, the concept should be relevant to almost any coastal area. If implemented, a coastal health observing system would connect a variety of human health data and environmental observations for individuals and communities, and where possible cohorts. Health data would be derived from questionnaires and other personal sources, clinical examinations, electronic health records, wearable devices, and syndromic surveillance, plus information on vulnerability and health-relevant community characteristics, and social media observations. Environmental data sources would include weather and climate, beach and coastal conditions, sentinel species, occurrences of harmful organisms and substances, seafood safety advisories, and distribution, proximity, and characteristics of health-promoting green and blue spaces. Where available, information on supporting resources could be added. Establishment of a linked network of coastal health observatories could provide powerful tools for understanding the positive and negative health effects of coastal living, lead to better health protections and enhanced wellbeing, and provide significant benefits to coastal residents, including the historically disadvantaged, as well as the military, hospitals and emergency departments, academic medical, public health, and environmental health programs, and others. Early networks could provide best practices and lessons learned to assist later entries.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking coastal environmental and health observations for human wellbeing

Sandifer

2023

Front. Public Health

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“…Fourth, the variability in responses to stress across populations may present a challenge in comparing allostatic load across individuals using biomarker-based or clinimetric assessments [88]. For example, while the decline in stress response efficacy with age poses a health hazard and contributes to the development and accumulation of age-related diseases in some individuals, others (particularly centenarians) appear to have developed a conservative stress response mechanism, which can mitigate stress overload at both the nuclear and mitochondrial DNA levels [89].…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Architectural Allostatic Overloading: Exploring a Connection between Architectural Form and Allostatic Overloading

Valentine

2023

IJERPH

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This paper examines, conceptually, the relationship between stress-inducing architectural features and allostatic overload by drawing on literature from neuroimmunology and neuroarchitecture. The studies reviewed from the field of neuroimmunology indicate that chronic or repeated exposure to stress-inducing events may overwhelm the body’s regulatory system, resulting in a process termed allostatic overload. While there is evidence from the field of neuroarchitecture that short-term exposure to particular architectural features produce acute stress responses, there is yet to be a study on the relationship between stress-inducing architectural features and allostatic load. This paper considers how to design such a study by reviewing the two primary methods used to measure allostatic overload: biomarkers and clinimetrics. Of particular interest is the observation that the clinical biomarkers used to measure stress in neuroarchitectural studies differ substantially from those used to measure allostatic load. Therefore, the paper concludes that while the observed stress responses to particular architectural forms may indicate allostatic activity, further research is needed to determine whether these stress responses are leading to allostatic overload. Consequently, a discrete longitudinal public health study is advised, one which engages the clinical biomarkers indicative of allostatic activity and incorporates contextual data using a clinimetric approach.

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“…Ideally, they would have measured hair cortisol before, immediately after, and multiple times across the follow-up period. Such an approach is strongly recommended in future research on natural disasters and could be facilitated by funding ongoing stressor, stress biomarker, and health surveillance studies that both anticipate and respond to the presence of both human-made and natural disasters ( 2 ).…”

Section: Lesson #4 High Cortisol Is Not Always Bad and Low Cortisol I...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As natural disasters increase in frequency and human and economic costs ( 1 , 2 ), so too must our understanding of their consequences for surviving individuals exposed to these disasters—not just in the short term but over longer time frames. The research article “Exposure to the Indian Ocean Tsunami shapes the HPA (hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal) axis resulting in HPA ‘burn out’ 14 y later” ( 3 ) makes important contributions to our understanding of the long-term impacts of exposure to a natural disaster through examining the effects of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami on one aspect of stress biology, levels of stress-sensitive hormone cortisol, as measured in small samples of hair 14 y following the event.…”

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confidence: 99%

Natural disasters as natural experiments: Lessons for human stress science

Adam

2023

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Allostatic load in the context of disasters

Cited by 8 publications

References 98 publications

Linking coastal environmental and health observations for human wellbeing

Linking coastal environmental and health observations for human wellbeing

Architectural Allostatic Overloading: Exploring a Connection between Architectural Form and Allostatic Overloading

Natural disasters as natural experiments: Lessons for human stress science

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