Chronic stress

6 papers4 findings

C, W, M, H: cells, worms or flies, mice, humans. Dark: independent labs found the same change there. Light: one lab or one study. Outline: nothing yet.

Labs are independent when their papers share no last author and no institution.

Against: findings that point the other way from most findings on the same outcome.

On aging: the drug’s trials ARN judged to be about aging, of every trial that tests it for any use.

No results posted: trials that ended more than a year ago with no results on ClinicalTrials.gov and no paper in ARN’s record.

Company ties: findings with an author at a company, or from a paper whose competing-interests statement declares ties to one.

2 independent labs in 2 countries

Funders: National Institute on Aging and 5 more

Humans4

Outcomes

Health

downin humans1

1 study

Chronic stress impairs health in humans.
“reviews theoretical and empirical work using the allostatic load model vis-à-vis the effects of chronic stress on physical and mental health”
Review
Allostatic load biomarkers of chronic stress and impact on health and cognition
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews12 Oct 2009

IL-6

upin humans1

1 study

Chronic stress increases IL-6 in humans (about four times as large).
“Caregivers' average rate of increase in IL-6 was about four times as large as that of noncaregivers.”
Humans6 years
Chronic stress and age-related increases in the proinflammatory cytokine IL-6
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2 Jul 2003

Associations

Type 2 diabetes

upin humans1HR 1.03

1 study

Chronic stress is associated with type 2 diabetes in humans (HR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.04).
“The LDI sum score was modestly associated with T2D (HR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.04), but not with pre-diabetes.”
HumansWithout diabetes at baseline; lifestyle-adjusted model; chronic stress measured by LDI sum scoren = 152,861
Association between stress-related exposures and risk of pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes: results from the population-based Lifelines cohort study
BMJ open diabetes research & care8 Oct 2026