Petrova, DafinaUbago-Guisado, EstherGarcia-Retamero, RocioRedondo-Sánchez, DanielPérez-Gómez, BeatrizCatena, AndrésCaparros-Gonzalez, Rafael ASanchez-Perez, Maria-Jose2024-10-292024-10-292023-03-15Petrova D, Ubago-Guisado E, Garcia-Retamero R, Redondo-Sánchez D, Pérez-Gómez B, Catena A, et al. Allostatic Load and Depression Symptoms in Cancer Survivors: A National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Study. Cancer Nurs. 2024 Jul-Aug 01;47(4):290-298.https://hdl.handle.net/10668/24316Background: Individuals with cancer often experience stress throughout the cancer trajectory and have a high risk of experiencing depression. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between allostatic load (AL), a measure of cumulative stress-related physiologic dysregulation of different body systems, and symptoms of depression in cancer survivors. Methods: Participants were 294 adult cancer survivors from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 2007-2018). Allostatic load was measured using 14 indicators representing cardiometabolic risk, glucose metabolism, cardiopulmonary functioning, parasympathetic functioning, and inflammation. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. The relationship between AL and depressive symptoms was investigated using multiple regression adjusted for diverse sociodemographic and diagnosis variables. Results: Higher AL was associated with higher depressive symptom scores. The higher risk of depression was concentrated among those survivors in the highest AL quartile, with 21% (95% confidence interval, 11%-32%) of survivors presenting a high risk of depression compared with 8% to 11% of survivors in the lower quartiles. In exploratory analyses, the relationship between AL and depressive symptoms was only significant among survivors with a lower income. In contrast, in survivors in the highest income group, depressive symptoms were lower and unrelated to AL. Conclusion: High AL is associated with more depressive symptoms among cancer survivors. Implications for practice: Nurses have an important role in identifying psychological distress in cancer patients and survivors. Further research is needed to investigate the usefulness of AL as a marker in the context of cancer follow-up care and screening for psychological distress.enAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/AllostasisCancer survivorsConfidence intervalsDepressionDiagnosisGlucoseAllostasisCancer SurvivorsDepressionNutrition Surveysresearch article36920171restricted accessAlostasisSupervivientes de CáncerDepresiónEncuestas Nutricionales10.1097/NCC.00000000000012161538-9804