Individuals with prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) exhibit neurological deficits associated with brain injury including smaller brain volumes. Additional risk factors such as lower socioeconomic status (SES) may also have an impact on brain development for this population. This study examined how brain volumes are related to SES in both neurotypically developing children and adolescents, and those with PAE. 3D T1-weighted MPRAGE images were acquired from 69 participants with PAE (13.0 ± 3.2 years, range 7.1–18.8 years, 49% female) and 70 neurotypical controls (12.4 ± 2.9 years, range 7.0–18.5 years, 60% female) from four scanning sites in Canada. SES scores calculated using Hollingshead’s Four-Factor Index of Social Status from current caregiver placement were not significantly different between groups, though more children with PAE had lower SES scores compared to controls. Psychometric data comprised 14 cognitive measures, including executive functioning, attention and working memory, memory, math/numerical ability, and word reading. All cognitive scores were significantly worse in children with PAE compared to controls, though SES was not correlated with cognitive scores in either group after correction for multiple comparisons. All 13 brain volumes were smaller in children with PAE compared to children in the control group. Higher SES was associated with larger hippocampus and amygdala volumes in controls, but there were no such associations in children with PAE. Direct evaluation of the interaction between SES and diagnostic group did not show a significant differential impact of SES on these structures. These findings support previous links between SES and brain volumes in neurotypically developing children, but the lack of such a relationship with SES in children with PAE may be due to the markedly smaller brain volumes resulting from the initial brain injury and postpartum brain development, regardless of later SES.

中文翻译：

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当前社会经济状况与健康儿童和青少年的脑容量相关，但与产前酒精暴露儿童的脑容量无关

产前酒精暴露 (PAE) 的个体表现出与脑损伤相关的神经缺陷，包括较小的脑容量。其他风险因素，例如较低的社会经济地位 (SES)，也可能对这一人群的大脑发育产生影响。这项研究检查了脑容量如何与神经发育中的儿童和青少年以及患有 PAE 的儿童和青少年的 SES 相关。3D T1 加权 MPRAGE 图像是从 69 名 PAE 参与者（13.0 ± 3.2 岁，范围 7.1-18.8 岁，49% 女性）和 70 名神经典型对照（12.4 ± 2.9 岁，范围 7.0-18.5 岁，60% 女性）获得的加拿大的四个扫描站点。使用 Hollingshead 社会地位四因素指数计算的 SES 分数在各组之间没有显着差异，尽管与对照组相比，更多患有 PAE 的儿童的 SES 分数较低。心理测量数据包括 14 项认知测量，包括执行功能、注意力和工作记忆、记忆、数学/数字能力和单词阅读。与对照组相比，PAE 儿童的所有认知评分均显着更差，尽管经过多重比较校正后，SES 与任一组的认知评分均不相关。与对照组儿童相比，PAE 儿童的所有 13 个脑容量均较小。在对照组中，较高的 SES 与较大的海马和杏仁核体积相关，但在患有 PAE 的儿童中没有这种关联。SES 和诊断组之间相互作用的直接评估没有显示 SES 对这些结构的显着差异影响。