RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Human brain anatomy reflects separable genetic and environmental components of socioeconomic status
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2021.07.28.454131
DO 10.1101/2021.07.28.454131
A1 Hyeokmoon Kweon
A1 Gökhan Aydogan
A1 Alain Dagher
A1 Danilo Bzdok
A1 Christian C. Ruff
A1 Gideon Nave
A1 Martha J. Farah
A1 Philipp D. Koellinger
YR 2021
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/07/29/2021.07.28.454131.abstract
AB Recent studies report that socioeconomic status (SES) correlates with brain structure. Yet, such findings are variable and little is known about underlying causes. We present a well-powered voxel-based analysis of grey matter volume (GMV) across levels of SES, finding many small SES effects widely distributed across the brain, including cortical, subcortical and cerebellar regions. We also construct a polygenic index of SES to control for the additive effects of common genetic variation related to SES, which attenuates observed SES-GMV relations, to different degrees in different areas. Remaining variance, which may be attributable to environmental factors, is substantially accounted for by body mass index, a marker for lifestyle related to SES. In sum, SES affects multiple brain regions through measurable genetic and environmental effects.One-sentence Summary Socioeconomic status is linked with brain anatomy through a varying balance of genetic and environmental influences.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.