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Allostatic Load Index/Evidence
Method evidence record

Allostatic Load Index

The allostatic load index quantifies the cumulative biological cost of chronic stress by summing dysregulation across multiple physiological systems. McEwen and Stellar introduced 'allostatic load' in 1993 to name the wear and tear the body accrues when stress-response systems are repeatedly or chronically activated, extending the idea of allostasis (stability through change) over time. Seeman, Singer, Rowe, Horwitz, and McEwen operationalized it in the MacArthur Studies of Successful Aging in 1997, scoring older adults on biomarkers spanning cardiovascular, metabolic, neuroendocrine, and immune function and counting how many fell into a high-risk range, typically the worst quartile. The resulting count index predicted later cognitive and physical decline and cardiovascular disease, establishing allostatic load as a measurable marker of cumulative physiological risk that no single clinical test captures.

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Source record

Citations copied verbatim from the method’s source record. No claim-level verification is inferred from them.

Allostatic Load Index (Cumulative Multi-System Physiological Dysregulation)
Taxonomic method record · latent-structure / social-epidemiology
  • Seeman, T. E., Singer, B. H., Rowe, J. W., Horwitz, R. I., & McEwen, B. S. (1997). Price of Adaptation: Allostatic Load and Its Health Consequences. MacArthur Studies of Successful Aging. Archives of Internal Medicine, 157(19), 2259-2268. · DOI 10.1001/archinte.1997.00440400111013
  • McEwen, B. S., & Stellar, E. (1993). Stress and the Individual: Mechanisms Leading to Disease. Archives of Internal Medicine, 153(18), 2093-2101. · DOI 10.1001/archinte.1993.00410180039004
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Related methods

Generated from the method graph and shown as machine-suggested relations — no evidence claim is inferred.

Used in the same domainArea Deprivation Indexmachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.Used in the same domainChains-of-Risk Modelmachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.Used in the same domainLife-Course Epidemiologymachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.Used in the same domainSocial Vulnerability Indexmachine-suggested · Relational suggestion, not evidence.

Evidence status

Sources recorded, not reviewed

Bibliographic sources are present. Claim-level evidence review has not been performed.

Sources

2 recorded citations, copied from the method source record.

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