TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of Demographic and Obstetric Factors on Infant Brain Volumes
T2 - A Population Neuroscience Study
AU - Knickmeyer, Rebecca C.
AU - Xia, Kai
AU - Lu, Zhaohua
AU - Ahn, Mihye
AU - Jha, Shaili C.
AU - Zou, Fei
AU - Zhu, Hongtu
AU - Styner, Martin
AU - Gilmore, John H.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The Author.
PY - 2017/12/1
Y1 - 2017/12/1
N2 - Individual differences in neuroanatomy are associated with intellectual ability and psychiatric risk. Factors responsible for this variability remain poorly understood. We tested whether 17 major demographic and obstetric variables were associated with individual differences in brain volumes in 756 neonates assessed with MRI. Gestational age at MRI, sex, gestational age at birth, and birthweight were the most significant predictors, explaining 31% to 59% of variance. Unexpectedly, earlier born babies had larger brains than later born babies after adjusting for other predictors. Our results suggest earlier born children experience accelerated brain growth, either as a consequence of the richer sensory environment they experience outside the womb or in response to other factors associated with delivery. In the full sample, maternal and paternal education, maternal ethnicity, maternal smoking, and maternal psychiatric history showed marginal associations with brain volumes, whereas maternal age, paternal age, paternal ethnicity, paternal psychiatric history, and income did not. Effects of parental education and maternal ethnicity are partially mediated by differences in birthweight. Remaining effects may reflect differences in genetic variation or cultural capital. In particular late initiation of prenatal care could negatively impact brain development. Findings could inform public health policy aimed at optimizing child development.
AB - Individual differences in neuroanatomy are associated with intellectual ability and psychiatric risk. Factors responsible for this variability remain poorly understood. We tested whether 17 major demographic and obstetric variables were associated with individual differences in brain volumes in 756 neonates assessed with MRI. Gestational age at MRI, sex, gestational age at birth, and birthweight were the most significant predictors, explaining 31% to 59% of variance. Unexpectedly, earlier born babies had larger brains than later born babies after adjusting for other predictors. Our results suggest earlier born children experience accelerated brain growth, either as a consequence of the richer sensory environment they experience outside the womb or in response to other factors associated with delivery. In the full sample, maternal and paternal education, maternal ethnicity, maternal smoking, and maternal psychiatric history showed marginal associations with brain volumes, whereas maternal age, paternal age, paternal ethnicity, paternal psychiatric history, and income did not. Effects of parental education and maternal ethnicity are partially mediated by differences in birthweight. Remaining effects may reflect differences in genetic variation or cultural capital. In particular late initiation of prenatal care could negatively impact brain development. Findings could inform public health policy aimed at optimizing child development.
KW - birthweight
KW - neonate
KW - neuroimaging
KW - premature birth
KW - socioeconomic status
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U2 - 10.1093/cercor/bhw331
DO - 10.1093/cercor/bhw331
M3 - Article
C2 - 27797836
AN - SCOPUS:85042214971
SN - 1047-3211
VL - 27
SP - 5616
EP - 5625
JO - Cerebral Cortex
JF - Cerebral Cortex
IS - 12
ER -