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Socioeconomic disadvantage and neural development from infancy through early childhood.

ABSTRACT: Early social experiences are believed to shape neurodevelopment, with potentially lifelong consequences. Yet minimal evidence exists regarding the role of the social environment on children's neural functioning, a core domain of neurodevelopment.We analysed data from 36?443 participants in the United States Collaborative Perinatal Project, a socioeconomically diverse pregnancy cohort conducted between 1959 and 1974. Study outcomes included: physician (neurologist or paediatrician)-rated neurological abnormality neonatally and thereafter at 4 months and 1 and 7 years; indicators of neurological hard signs and soft signs; and indicators of autonomic nervous system function.Children born to socioeconomically disadvantaged parents were more likely to exhibit neurological abnormalities at 4 months [odds ratio (OR)?=?1.20; 95% confidence interval (CI)?=?1.06, 1.37], 1 year (OR?=?1.35; CI?=?1.17, 1.56), and 7 years (OR?=?1.67; CI?=?1.48, 1.89), and more likely to exhibit neurological hard signs (OR?=?1.39; CI?=?1.10, 1.76), soft signs (OR?=?1.26; CI?=?1.09, 1.45) and autonomic nervous system dysfunctions at 7 years. Pregnancy and delivery complications, themselves associated with socioeconomic disadvantage, did not account for the higher risks of neurological abnormalities among disadvantaged children.Parental socioeconomic disadvantage was, independently from pregnancy and delivery complications, associated with abnormal child neural development during the first 7 years of life. These findings reinforce the importance of the early environment for neurodevelopment generally, and expand knowledge regarding the domains of neurodevelopment affected by environmental conditions. Further work is needed to determine the mechanisms linking socioeconomic disadvantage with children's neural functioning, the timing of such mechanisms and their potential reversibility.

SUBMITTER: Chin-Lun Hung G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4715254 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Socioeconomic disadvantage and neural development from infancy through early childhood.

Chin-Lun Hung Galen G Hahn Jill J Alamiri Bibi B Buka Stephen L SL Goldstein Jill M JM Laird Nan N Nelson Charles A CA Smoller Jordan W JW Gilman Stephen E SE

International journal of epidemiology 20151216 6

<h4>Background</h4>Early social experiences are believed to shape neurodevelopment, with potentially lifelong consequences. Yet minimal evidence exists regarding the role of the social environment on children's neural functioning, a core domain of neurodevelopment.<h4>Methods</h4>We analysed data from 36 443 participants in the United States Collaborative Perinatal Project, a socioeconomically diverse pregnancy cohort conducted between 1959 and 1974. Study outcomes included: physician (neurologi ...[more]

PMID: 26675752

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Project description:The developmental health of young children is highly influenced by the socioeconomic conditions in which they are raised. How to accurately measure these conditions is a point of debate in the current literature on child development, health, and social determinants. We have evaluated four existing indices of socioeconomic status (SES) to determine the most relevant for the analysis of early childhood development (ECD) in Canada. Following a literature review of published SES indices which used 2006 Canadian Census data, four indices were chosen based on their relevance to ECD and the number of citations in subsequent articles. These were: the Canadian Deprivation Index, the Socioeconomic Factor Index, the Canadian Marginalization Index and an index created by the Early Childhood Mapping Project in Alberta, Canada. The indices were replicated using SES data for 2038 customized geographic neighbourhoods encompassing 99.9% of the Canadian population, and the relationship of the indices to ECD was investigated by linking to aggregated data from the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a teacher-completed questionnaire used to assess kindergarten children's physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development, and communication skills. The derived SES indices were compared based on four criteria: the input variables used, the index structure, the interpretability of the index and the variance they explained (R2) in the different EDI outcome measures. In terms of variance explained, material components of the SES indices (e.g., income, education) consistently showed the strongest association with children's language and cognitive development. The patterns of association for the non-material SES components and the other developmental domains of the EDI were more complex. We discuss the findings in regard to current developments in the field, and the need for refining empirical and theoretical approaches to examine associations between different facets of SES contextual factors and different aspects of ECD outcomes.

Project description:BackgroundSocioeconomic disadvantage (SED) has been consistently associated with early life mental health problems. SED has been shown to impact multiple biological systems, including the regulation of neurotrophic proteins, immune-inflammatory and oxidative stress markers, which, conversely, have been reported to be relevant to physiological and pathological neurodevelopment This study investigated the relationship between SED, different domains of psychopathology, serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL6), thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance (TBARS) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). We hypothesized that a composite of socioeconomic risk would be associated with psychopathology and altered levels of peripheral biomarkers. In addition, we hypothesized that SED would moderate the associations between mental health problems, IL6, TBARS and BDNF.Methods and findingsUsing a cross-sectional design, we measured the serum levels of IL6, TBARS and BDNF in 495 children aged 6 to 12. We also investigated socio-demographic characteristics and mental health problems using the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) DSM-oriented scales. SED was evaluated using a cumulative risk model. Generalized linear models were used to assess associations between SED, biomarkers levels and psychopathology. SED was significantly associated with serum levels of IL6 (RR = 1.026, 95% CI 1.004; 1.049, p = 0.020) and TBARS (RR = 1.077, 95% CI 1.028; 1.127, p = 0.002). The association between SED and BDNF was not statistically significant (RR = 1.031, 95% CI 0.997; 1.066, p = 0.077). SED was also significantly associated with all CBCL DSM-oriented scales (all p < 0.05), whereas serum biomarkers (i.e. IL6, TBARS, BDNF) were associated with specific subscales. Moreover, the associations between serum biomarkers and domains of psychopathology were moderated by SED, with stronger correlations between mental health problems, IL6, TBARS, and BDNF being observed in children with high SED.ConclusionsIn children, SED is highly associated with mental health problems. Our findings suggest that this association may be moderated via effects on multiple interacting neurobiological systems.

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Socioeconomic disadvantage and neural development from infancy through early childhood.

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Socioeconomic disadvantage and neural development from infancy through early childhood.

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