Socioeconomic disadvantage affects children’s brains

Sunday, December 1 | 1:50 p.m.-2:00 p.m. | S4-SSNR01-6 | Room S401

MRI shows that children at socioeconomic disadvantage have relatively high levels of white-matter microstructural integrity in prepuberty -- although this erodes by the time these children are 13 or 14, according to study results to be presented on Sunday.

Presenter and medical student Hector Acosta Rodriguez of Yale University in New Haven, CT, will report on research that used the area deprivation index (ADI) to explore any effect of socioeconomic disadvantage on brain white matter. The study included MR imaging, clinical, and demographic information from 5,341 children with a mean age of 10 at baseline; 2,629 children with a mean age of 12 at two-year follow-up; and 910 children with a mean age of 14 at four-year follow-up. The group collected patient information from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study database and assessed any associations between ADI scores and neuroimaging metrics (fractional anisotropy, neurite density, mean diffusivity, radial diffusivity, and axial diffusivity of white-matter tracts).

The investigators found the following:

• Children living in neighborhoods with higher ADI scores at baseline showed higher average fractional anisotropy, axial diffusivity, and neurite density but lower radial diffusivity and mean diffusivity, particularly in the corpus callosum, cingulum, forceps minor and major, and anterior thalamic radiation areas of the brain.
• Children demonstrated a similar pattern at two-year follow up, but fewer brain areas showed significant association to their ADI scores.
• There was no significant association between ADI scores and brain changes at four-year follow up.

"Understanding the neural impacts of socioeconomic status can guide subject selection in future study design interventions," the researchers noted. "It [could also inform] policies to reduce disparities in underprivileged adolescents."

Get all of the details by attending this presentation.