Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2018 Sep;1428(1):14-32. doi: 10.1111/nyas.13862. Epub 2018 Jun 27.
Socioeconomic-based disparities in physical health outcomes are well established, with individuals from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds being more likely to experience chronic disease morbidity and early mortality compared to those from higher SES strata. While numerous studies in recent decades have focused on understanding the contextual, psychosocial, and biological mechanisms linking SES and health, the neural pathways that contribute to this relationship are currently underinvestigated. The present paper reviews and synthesizes the small number of published studies that have explored links between SES and health-relevant neural functioning. Specifically, current knowledge of the relationship between socioeconomic factors and neural systems that may be affected by low SES contexts, including those related to processing threat and stress, responding to reward, and engaging in emotion regulation, is reviewed. Gaps in our knowledge that could be filled by health neuroscience research are emphasized, in an effort to catalyze future studies in this area. Understanding the neural mechanisms linking SES and health is crucial for building comprehensive models of the pathways by which social inequalities become health inequalities and may help identify novel targets for intervention to prevent health disparities. Health neuroscience research has a critical role to play in this important area of research.
社会经济地位导致的身体健康结果差异是显而易见的，与社会经济地位较高的人群相比，社会经济地位较低的人群更容易出现慢性疾病发病率和早逝的情况。尽管近几十年来，许多研究都集中在理解将社会经济地位和健康联系起来的背景、心理社会和生物学机制上，但目前对导致这种关系的神经途径的研究还不够充分。本文综述并综合了少数已发表的探讨社会经济地位与健康相关神经功能之间联系的研究。具体来说，本文回顾了当前关于社会经济因素与可能受到低社会经济地位环境影响的神经系统之间关系的知识，包括与处理威胁和压力、对奖励做出反应以及进行情绪调节相关的神经系统。强调了健康神经科学研究可以填补我们知识上的空白，以努力促进该领域的未来研究。理解社会经济地位和健康之间的神经机制对于构建社会不平等如何成为健康不平等的综合模型至关重要，并且可能有助于确定预防健康差异的新干预目标。健康神经科学研究在这一重要研究领域发挥着关键作用。
