ArticlePsychoneuroendocrinology2017
Allostatic load and reduced cortical thickness in schizophrenia.
Article in Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
25 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- Allostatic load index across the psychosis spectrum: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Allostatic Load Measurement: A Systematic Review of Reviews, Database Inventory, and Considerations for Neighborhood Research.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Disparities in Allostatic Load Among Different Races: A Comprehensive Scoping Review.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2025Review
- Childhood trauma and inflammatory biomarker effects on cortical thinning in schizophrenia spectrum disorders.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- Influenza A virus during pregnancy disrupts maternal intestinal immunity and fetal cortical development in a dose- and time-dependent manner.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Article
- Ontogeny and colonization of embryonic border-associated macrophages and their role in neurodevelopment.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2025Review
- Mapping pathways to neuronal atrophy in healthy, mid-aged adults: From chronic stress to systemic inflammation to neurodegeneration?Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2024Article
- Elucidating individual differences in chronic pain and whole person health with allostatic load biomarkers.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2023Article
- Hippocampal Connectivity with the Default Mode Network is Linked to Hippocampal Volume in the Clinical High Risk for Psychosis Syndrome and Healthy Individuals.Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2023Article
- Association between gut permeability, brain volume, and cognition in healthy participants and patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder.Brain and behavior · 2023Article
- Emerging epigenetic dynamics in gut-microglia brain axis: experimental and clinical implications for accelerated brain aging in schizophrenia.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2023Review
- Allostatic-Interoceptive Overload in Frontotemporal Dementia.Biological psychiatry · 2022Article
- Life Event Stress and Reduced Cortical Thickness in Youth at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis and Healthy Control Subjects.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2022Article
- Peripheral inflammation levels associated with degree of advanced brain aging in schizophrenia.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Allostatic Load Effects on Cortical and Cognitive Deficits in Essentially Normotensive, Normoweight Patients with Schizophrenia.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2021Article
- Neuroimaging Markers of Resiliency in Youth at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis: A Qualitative Review.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2021Review
- Assessment of brain cholesterol metabolism biomarker 24S-hydroxycholesterol in schizophrenia.NPJ schizophrenia · 2020Article
- Choroid Plexus Enlargement and Allostatic Load in Schizophrenia.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2020Article
- Stress, Allostatic Load, and Psychosis: One Step Forward in Research But Where to Go Next?Frontiers in psychiatry · 2019Article
- Elevated allostatic load early in the course of schizophrenia.Translational psychiatry · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
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.
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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.