October 29, 2013
Bloomberg News (10/28, Ostrow, 1.91M) reported that, according to a study published online Oct. 28 in JAMA Pediatrics, “poverty and lack of nurturing in early life may have a direct effect on a child’s brain development” in that “smaller brain volumes” were found “in poor, neglected children.”
The CBS News (10/29, Castillo, 3.87M) website reports that that researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to scan the brains of 145 children from greater St. Louis, MO. The scans revealed that the youngsters “who grew up in impoverished environments had smaller white and cortical gray matter volumes in the brain, in addition to a smaller hippocampal and amygdala volume.” What’s more, “poor children were linked to smaller hippocampal volumes in the left and right hemispheres if they had less parental nurturing.”
US News & World Report (10/29, Bidwell, 620K) reports that the study also found that “some of the negative effects on the brain…can be mediated by the level of support or hostility of the children’s caregivers, as well as the level of stressful events in life.”
MedPage Today (10/29, Kaiser, 122K) points out that an accompanying editorial concluded, “Exposure to early life adversity should be considered no less toxic than exposure to lead, alcohol, or cocaine, and, as such,” deserves similar attention “public health authorities.” A grant from the National Institute of Mental Health helped support the study. Reuters (10/29, Seaman) also covers the story.
(Article courtesy of American Medical Association.)
