8. Allostatic Load is Associated With Positive Symptoms in Schizophrenia and First-Episode Psychosis and Decreases With Antipsychotic Therapy.

Abstract

Abstract Current pathophysiological models of schizophrenia suggest that stress contributes to the etiology and trajectory of the disorder. We investigated whether cumulative exposure to stress, quantified by allostatic load (AL), an integrative index of immune, metabolic, and neuroendocrine dysregulation, is elevated in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) and first-episode psychosis (FEP) and related to psychotic symptoms and social and occupational functioning and assessed the temporal dynamics of AL in response to treatment with second-generation antipsychotics. We assessed AL in a naturalistic study of unmedicated patients with SCZ (n = 28), FEP (n = 28), and healthy controls matched for..