Human Brain Anatomy Reflects Separable Genetic and Environmental Components of Socioeconomic Status

Overview

Journal Sci Adv

Specialties Biology
Science

Date 2022 May 18

PMID 35584223

Authors

Hyeokmoon Kweon

Gokhan Aydogan

Alain Dagher

Danilo Bzdok

Christian C Ruff

Gideon Nave

Martha J Farah

Philipp D Koellinger

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Socioeconomic status (SES) correlates with brain structure, a relation of interest given the long-observed relations of SES to cognitive abilities and health. Yet, major questions remain open, in particular, the pattern of causality that underlies this relation. In an unprecedently large study, here, we assess genetic and environmental contributions to SES differences in neuroanatomy. We first establish robust SES-gray matter relations across a number of brain regions, cortical and subcortical. These regional correlates are parsed into predominantly genetic factors and those potentially due to the environment. We show that genetic effects are stronger in some areas (prefrontal cortex, insula) than others. In areas showing less genetic effect (cerebellum, lateral temporal), environmental factors are likely to be influential. Our results imply a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors that influence the SES-brain relation and may eventually provide insights relevant to policy.

Citing Articles

Socioeconomic Factors in Brain Research: Increasing Sample Representativeness with Portable MRI.

Farah M J Law Med Ethics. 2025; 52(4):824-829.

PMID: 39885751 PMC: 11798670. DOI: 10.1017/jme.2024.168.

Structural inequality linked to brain volume and network dynamics in aging and dementia across the Americas.

Legaz A, Altschuler F, Gonzalez-Gomez R, Hernandez H, Baez S, Migeot J Nat Aging. 2024; 5(2):259-274.

PMID: 39730822 DOI: 10.1038/s43587-024-00781-2.

Spinal afferent neurons: emerging regulators of energy balance and metabolism.

Jarrah M, Tasabehji D, Fraer A, Mokadem M Front Mol Neurosci. 2024; 17:1479876.

PMID: 39582948 PMC: 11583444. DOI: 10.3389/fnmol.2024.1479876.

Socioeconomic status moderates associations between hippocampal development and cognition in preterms.

Konrad J, Guo T, Ufkes S, Selvanathan T, Sheng M, Al-Ajmi E Ann Clin Transl Neurol. 2024; 11(9):2499-2513.

PMID: 39116913 PMC: 11537128. DOI: 10.1002/acn3.52168.

Multi-organ imaging-derived polygenic indexes for brain and body health.

Yang X, Sullivan P, Li B, Fan Z, Ding D, Shu J medRxiv. 2024; .

PMID: 38883759 PMC: 11177904. DOI: 10.1101/2023.04.18.23288769.

References

Noble K, Giebler M . The Neuroscience of Socioeconomic Inequality. Curr Opin Behav Sci. 2020; 36:23-28. PMC: 7384696. DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.05.007. View

Selzam S, Ritchie S, Pingault J, Reynolds C, OReilly P, Plomin R . Comparing Within- and Between-Family Polygenic Score Prediction. Am J Hum Genet. 2019; 105(2):351-363. PMC: 6698881. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2019.06.006. View

DiPrete T, Burik C, Koellinger P . Genetic instrumental variable regression: Explaining socioeconomic and health outcomes in nonexperimental data. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018; 115(22):E4970-E4979. PMC: 5984483. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1707388115. View

Noble K, Houston S, Brito N, Bartsch H, Kan E, Kuperman J . Family income, parental education and brain structure in children and adolescents. Nat Neurosci. 2015; 18(5):773-8. PMC: 4414816. DOI: 10.1038/nn.3983. View

McEwen B, Gianaros P . Central role of the brain in stress and adaptation: links to socioeconomic status, health, and disease. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2010; 1186:190-222. PMC: 2864527. DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.05331.x. View

Mbatchou J, Barnard L, Backman J, Marcketta A, Kosmicki J, Ziyatdinov A . Computationally efficient whole-genome regression for quantitative and binary traits. Nat Genet. 2021; 53(7):1097-1103. DOI: 10.1038/s41588-021-00870-7. View

Adler N, Ostrove J . Socioeconomic status and health: what we know and what we don't. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2000; 896:3-15. DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1999.tb08101.x. View

Farah M . Socioeconomic status and the brain: prospects for neuroscience-informed policy. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2018; 19(7):428-438. DOI: 10.1038/s41583-018-0023-2. View

Grotzinger A, Rhemtulla M, de Vlaming R, Ritchie S, Mallard T, Hill W . Genomic structural equation modelling provides insights into the multivariate genetic architecture of complex traits. Nat Hum Behav. 2019; 3(5):513-525. PMC: 6520146. DOI: 10.1038/s41562-019-0566-x. View

10.

Sacks D, Stevenson B, Wolfers J . The new stylized facts about income and subjective well-being. Emotion. 2012; 12(6):1181-7. DOI: 10.1037/a0029873. View

11.

Adler N, Stewart J . Health disparities across the lifespan: meaning, methods, and mechanisms. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2010; 1186:5-23. DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.05337.x. View

12.

Loh P, Tucker G, Bulik-Sullivan B, Vilhjalmsson B, Finucane H, Salem R . Efficient Bayesian mixed-model analysis increases association power in large cohorts. Nat Genet. 2015; 47(3):284-90. PMC: 4342297. DOI: 10.1038/ng.3190. View

13.

Aydogan G, Daviet R, Linner R, Hare T, Kable J, Kranzler H . Genetic underpinnings of risky behaviour relate to altered neuroanatomy. Nat Hum Behav. 2021; 5(6):787-794. PMC: 10566430. DOI: 10.1038/s41562-020-01027-y. View

14.

McCarthy S, Das S, Kretzschmar W, Delaneau O, Wood A, Teumer A . A reference panel of 64,976 haplotypes for genotype imputation. Nat Genet. 2016; 48(10):1279-83. PMC: 5388176. DOI: 10.1038/ng.3643. View

15.

Mitchell B, Cuellar-Partida G, Grasby K, Campos A, Strike L, Hwang L . Educational attainment polygenic scores are associated with cortical total surface area and regions important for language and memory. Neuroimage. 2020; 212:116691. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116691. View

16.

Farah M . The Neuroscience of Socioeconomic Status: Correlates, Causes, and Consequences. Neuron. 2017; 96(1):56-71. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.08.034. View

17.

Cavanagh J, Krishnadas R, Batty G, Burns H, Deans K, Ford I . Socioeconomic status and the cerebellar grey matter volume. Data from a well-characterised population sample. Cerebellum. 2013; 12(6):882-91. DOI: 10.1007/s12311-013-0497-4. View

18.

Button K, Ioannidis J, Mokrysz C, Nosek B, Flint J, Robinson E . Power failure: why small sample size undermines the reliability of neuroscience. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2013; 14(5):365-76. DOI: 10.1038/nrn3475. View

19.

Ludwig J, Sanbonmatsu L, Gennetian L, Adam E, Duncan G, Katz L . Neighborhoods, obesity, and diabetes--a randomized social experiment. N Engl J Med. 2011; 365(16):1509-19. PMC: 3410541. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMsa1103216. View

20.

Schnittker J . Education and the changing shape of the income gradient in health. J Health Soc Behav. 2004; 45(3):286-305. DOI: 10.1177/002214650404500304. View