Human development, inequality, and their associations with brain structure across 29 countries

Human development, inequality, and their associations with brain structure across 29 countries

Abstract Background The macro-social and environmental conditions in which people live, such as the level of a country’s development or inequality, are associated with brain-related disorders. However, the relationship between these systemic environmental factors and the brain remains unclear. We...

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Main Authors: Vicente Medel, Luz M. Alliende, Richard Bethlehem, Jakob Seidlitz, Grace Ringlein, Celso Arango, Aurina Arnatkevičiūtė, Laila Asmal, Mark Bellgrove, Vivek Benegal, Miquel Bernardo, Pablo Billeke, Jorge Bosch-Bayard, Rodrigo Bressan, Geraldo Busatto, Mariana Castro, Tiffany Chaim-Avancini, Monise Costanzi, Leticia Czepielewski, Paola Dazzan, Camilo de la Fuente-Sandoval, Covadonga M. Diaz-Caneja, Marta Di Forti, Ana Maria Diaz-Zuluaga, Stefan Du Plessis, Fabio Duran, Sol Fittipaldi, Alex Fornito, Nelson Freimer, Ary Gadelha, Clarissa Gama, Ranjini Garani, Clemente Garcia-Rizo, Cecilia Gonzalez Campo, Alfonso Gonzalez-Valderrama, Salvador Guinjoan, Bharath Holla, Agustin Ibañez, Daniza Ivanovic, Andrea Jackowski, Pablo Leon-Ortiz, Christine Lochner, Carlos Lopez-Jaramillo, Hilmar Luckhoff, Raffael Massuda, Philip McGuire, Jun Miyata, Romina Mizrahi, Robin Murray, Aysegul Ozerdem, Pedro Pan, Mara Parellada, Lebogang Phahladira, Juan P. Ramirez-Mahaluf, Ramiro Reckziegel, Tiago Reis Marques, Francisco Reyes-Madrigal, Annerine Roos, Pedro Rosa, Giovanni Salum, Freda Scheffler, Gunter Schumann, Mauricio Serpa, Dan J. Stein, Angeles Tepper, Jeggan Tiego, Tsukasa Ueno, Juan Undurraga, Eduardo A Undurraga, Pedro Valdes-Sosa, Isabel Valli, Mirta Villarreal, Toby T Winton-Brown, Nefize Yalin, Francisco Zamorano, Marcus Zanetti, Anderson M Winkler, Sara Evans-Lacko, Nicolas A. Crossley
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2025-01-01
Series:European Psychiatry
Subjects:
brain structure
inequality
meta-regression
MRI
social determinants of health
Online Access:https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0924933825100606/type/journal_article
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Summary:Abstract Background The macro-social and environmental conditions in which people live, such as the level of a country’s development or inequality, are associated with brain-related disorders. However, the relationship between these systemic environmental factors and the brain remains unclear. We aimed to determine the association between the level of development and inequality of a country and the brain structure of healthy adults. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study pooling brain imaging (T1-based) data from 145 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies in 7,962 healthy adults (4,110 women) in 29 different countries. We used a meta-regression approach to relate the brain structure to the country’s level of development and inequality. Results Higher human development was consistently associated with larger hippocampi and more expanded global cortical surface area, particularly in frontal areas. Increased inequality was most consistently associated with smaller hippocampal volume and thinner cortical thickness across the brain. Conclusions Our results suggest that the macro-economic conditions of a country are reflected in its inhabitants’ brains and may explain the different incidence of brain disorders across the world. The observed variability of brain structure in health across countries should be considered when developing tools in the field of personalized or precision medicine that are intended to be used across the world.
ISSN:0924-9338
1778-3585

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