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

Overview

Journal J Law Med Ethics

Publisher Cambridge University Press

Date 2025 Jan 31

PMID 39885751

Authors

Martha J Farah

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

People of low socioeconomic status (SES) are often underrepresented in biomedical research. The importance of demographically diverse research samples is widely recognized, especially given socioeconomic disparities in health, but have been challenging to achieve. One barrier to research participation by low SES individuals is their distance from research centers and the difficulty of traveling. This article examines the promise of portable magnetic resonance imaging (pMRI) for enrolling participants of diverse SES in structural neuroimaging studies, and anticipates some of the challenges, practical and ethical, that may arise in the course of such research.

References

Grady C . Vulnerability in research: individuals with limited financial and/or social resources. J Law Med Ethics. 2009; 37(1):19-27. DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-720X.2009.00347.x. View

Davis T, Arnold C, Mills G, Miele L . A Qualitative Study Exploring Barriers and Facilitators of Enrolling Underrepresented Populations in Clinical Trials and Biobanking. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2019; 7:74. PMC: 6502895. DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2019.00074. View

Akinyemiju T, Pisu M, Waterbor J, Altekruse S . Socioeconomic status and incidence of breast cancer by hormone receptor subtype. Springerplus. 2015; 4:508. PMC: 4573746. DOI: 10.1186/s40064-015-1282-2. View

Thanaraju A, Marzuki A, Chan J, Wong K, Phon-Amnuaisuk P, Vafa S . Structural and functional brain correlates of socioeconomic status across the life span: A systematic review. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2024; 162():105716. DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105716. View

Klein E, Han S, Tuite P, Kimberly W, Agarwal M . Portable Accessible MRI in Dementia Research: Ethical Considerations About Research Representation and Dementia-Friendly Technology. J Law Med Ethics. 2025; 52(4):830-839. PMC: 11798667. DOI: 10.1017/jme.2024.157. View

Hackett R, Steptoe A . Type 2 diabetes mellitus and psychological stress - a modifiable risk factor. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2017; 13(9):547-560. DOI: 10.1038/nrendo.2017.64. View

Pedersen A, Zachariae R, Bovbjerg D . Influence of psychological stress on upper respiratory infection--a meta-analysis of prospective studies. Psychosom Med. 2010; 72(8):823-32. DOI: 10.1097/PSY.0b013e3181f1d003. View

Bonevski B, Randell M, Paul C, Chapman K, Twyman L, Bryant J . Reaching the hard-to-reach: a systematic review of strategies for improving health and medical research with socially disadvantaged groups. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2014; 14:42. PMC: 3974746. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2288-14-42. View

Si Y, Lee S, Heeringa S . Population Weighting in Statistical Analysis. JAMA Intern Med. 2023; 184(1):98-99. DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.6300. View

10.

Compton W, Dowling G, Garavan H . Ensuring the Best Use of Data: The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. JAMA Pediatr. 2019; 173(9):809-810. PMC: 8056387. DOI: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.2081. View

11.

Kweon H, Aydogan G, Dagher A, Bzdok D, Ruff C, Nave G . Human brain anatomy reflects separable genetic and environmental components of socioeconomic status. Sci Adv. 2022; 8(20):eabm2923. PMC: 9116589. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abm2923. View

12.

Falk E, Hyde L, Mitchell C, Faul J, Gonzalez R, Heitzeg M . What is a representative brain? Neuroscience meets population science. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013; 110(44):17615-22. PMC: 3816464. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1310134110. View

13.

Eckerling A, Ricon-Becker I, Sorski L, Sandbank E, Ben-Eliyahu S . Stress and cancer: mechanisms, significance and future directions. Nat Rev Cancer. 2021; 21(12):767-785. DOI: 10.1038/s41568-021-00395-5. View

14.

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

15.

Dotson V, Duarte A . The importance of diversity in cognitive neuroscience. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2019; 1464(1):181-191. DOI: 10.1111/nyas.14268. View

16.

Jain F, Hunter A, Brooks 3rd J, Leuchter A . Predictive socioeconomic and clinical profiles of antidepressant response and remission. Depress Anxiety. 2013; 30(7):624-30. DOI: 10.1002/da.22045. View

17.

Amlien I, Fjell A, Tamnes C, Grydeland H, Krogsrud S, Chaplin T . Organizing Principles of Human Cortical Development--Thickness and Area from 4 to 30 Years: Insights from Comparative Primate Neuroanatomy. Cereb Cortex. 2014; 26(1):257-267. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhu214. View

18.

Halaris A . Inflammation and depression but where does the inflammation come from?. Curr Opin Psychiatry. 2019; 32(5):422-428. DOI: 10.1097/YCO.0000000000000531. View

19.

Fine C . Fairly Criticized, or Politicized? Conflicts in the Neuroscience of Sex Differences in the Human Brain. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2021; 14(8). PMC: 9341467. DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a039115. View

20.

LeWinn K, Sheridan M, Keyes K, Hamilton A, McLaughlin K . Sample composition alters associations between age and brain structure. Nat Commun. 2017; 8(1):874. PMC: 5638928. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00908-7. View