Relationship of Morphometrics and Symptom Severity in Female Type I Chiari Malformation Patients with Biological Resilience

AbstractIn the present study we report the relationship among MRI-based skull and cervical spine morphometric measures as well as symptom severity (disability —as measured by Oswestry Head and Neck Pain Scale and social isolation—as measured by the UCLA Loneliness scale) on biomarkers of allostatic load using estrogen, interleukin-6, C-reactive protein, and cortisol in a sample of 46 CMI patients. Correlational analyses showed that McRae line length w as negatively associated with interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein levels, and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) showed joint effects of morphometric measures (McRae line length, anterior CSF space) and symptom severity (disability and loneliness) on estrogen and intereukin-6 levels. These results are co nsistent with allostatic load. That is, when the combination of CSF crowding and self-report symptom (disability and loneliness) severity exceed the capacity of biological resilience factors, then biomarkers such as neuroprotective estrogen levels drop, rather than rise, with increasing symptom seve rity.
Source: The Cerebellum - Category: Neurology Source Type: research