Functional Imaging Unit, Center for Diagnostic Radiology and Neuroradiology, Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Medicine Greifswald, Walther-Rathenau-Str.46, 17475, Greifswald, Germany.
Institute for Community Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2020 Nov 2;10(1):18786. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-75809-9.
Income and education are both elements of a person's socioeconomic status, which is predictive of a broad range of life outcomes. The brain's gray matter volume (GMV) is influenced by socioeconomic status and mediators related to an unhealthy life style. We here investigated two independent general population samples comprising 2838 participants (all investigated with the same MRI-scanner) with regard to the association of indicators of the socioeconomic status and gray matter volume. Voxel-based morphometry without prior hypotheses revealed that years of education were positively associated with GMV in the anterior cingulate cortex and net-equivalent income with gray matter volume in the hippocampus/amygdala region. Analyses of possible mediators (alcohol, cigarettes, body mass index (BMI), stress) revealed that the relationship between income and GMV in the hippocampus/amygdala region was partly mediated by self-reported stressors, and the association of years of education with GMV in the anterior cingulate cortex by BMI. These results corrected for whole brain effects (and therefore not restricted to certain brain areas) do now offer possibilities for more detailed hypotheses-driven approaches.
收入和教育都是一个人社会经济地位的要素，而社会经济地位可以预测广泛的生活结果。大脑的灰质体积（GMV）受社会经济地位和与不健康生活方式有关的中介因素的影响。我们在这里研究了两个独立的一般人群样本，共包含 2838 名参与者（均使用相同的 MRI 扫描仪进行检查），以调查社会经济地位和灰质体积指标之间的关联。基于体素的形态计量学没有先验假设，发现受教育年限与前扣带皮层的 GMV 呈正相关，净等价收入与海马/杏仁核区域的 GMV 呈正相关。对可能的中介因素（酒精、香烟、体重指数（BMI）、压力）的分析表明，收入与海马/杏仁核区域 GMV 之间的关系部分由自我报告的压力源介导，而受教育年限与前扣带皮层 GMV 之间的关系由 BMI 介导。这些结果针对全脑效应进行了校正（因此不限于特定的大脑区域），现在为更详细的基于假设的方法提供了可能性。
