Departments of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Psychiatry, and Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri; Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri; Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri.
Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri.
Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2022 Jan;7(1):34-44. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2021.07.002. Epub 2021 Jul 14.
Early low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with poor outcomes in childhood, many of which endure into adulthood. It is critical to determine how early low SES relates to trajectories of brain development and whether these mediate relationships to poor outcomes. We use data from a unique 17-year longitudinal study with five waves of structural brain imaging to prospectively examine relationships between preschool SES and cognitive, social, academic, and psychiatric outcomes in early adulthood.
Children (n = 216, 50% female, 47.2% non-White) were recruited from a study of early onset depression and followed approximately annually. Family income-to-needs ratios (SES) were assessed when children were ages 3 to 5 years. Volumes of cortical gray and white matter and subcortical gray matter collected across five scan waves were processed using the FreeSurfer Longitudinal pipeline. When youth were ages 16+ years, cognitive function was assessed using the NIH Toolbox, and psychiatric diagnoses, high-risk behaviors, educational function, and social function were assessed using clinician administered and parent/youth report measures.
Lower preschool SES related to worse cognitive, high-risk, educational, and social outcomes (|standardized B| = 0.20-0.31, p values < .003). Lower SES was associated with overall lower cortical (standardized B = 0.12, p < .0001) and subcortical gray matter (standardized B = 0.17, p < .0001) volumes, as well as a shallower slope of subcortical gray matter growth over time (standardized B = 0.04, p = .012). Subcortical gray matter mediated the relationship of preschool SES to cognition and high-risk behaviors.
These novel longitudinal data underscore the key role of brain development in understanding the long-lasting relations of early low SES to outcomes in children.
早期低社会经济地位（SES）与儿童时期的不良结局有关，其中许多结局会持续到成年期。确定早期低 SES 与大脑发育轨迹的关系以及这些轨迹是否调节不良结局之间的关系至关重要。我们使用一项独特的 17 年纵向研究的数据，该研究进行了五次结构脑成像，前瞻性地研究了学龄前 SES 与成年早期认知、社会、学术和精神科结局之间的关系。
从一项早期发病抑郁症的研究中招募了 216 名儿童（50%为女性，47.2%为非白人），并对其进行了大约每年一次的随访。当儿童年龄在 3 至 5 岁时，评估家庭收入与需求比（SES）。在五次扫描波中采集的皮质灰质和白质以及皮质下灰质体积使用 FreeSurfer 纵向管道进行处理。当年轻人年龄在 16 岁及以上时，使用 NIH 工具包评估认知功能，使用临床医生和家长/青少年报告的措施评估精神科诊断、高危行为、教育功能和社会功能。
较低的学龄前 SES 与较差的认知、高危、教育和社会结局相关（标准化 B | = 0.20-0.31，p 值 <.003）。SES 较低与皮质（标准化 B = 0.12，p <.0001）和皮质下灰质（标准化 B = 0.17，p <.0001）总体体积降低有关，以及皮质下灰质随时间的增长斜率变浅（标准化 B = 0.04，p =.012）。皮质下灰质介导了学龄前 SES 与认知和高危行为之间的关系。
这些新的纵向数据强调了大脑发育在理解早期低 SES 与儿童结局之间持久关系中的关键作用。
