Brain MRI reveals effects of ‘toxic stress’ on black children

S.Stressful experiences in early childhood, especially financial conflicts, appear to act as toxic stressors that alter brain regions associated with stress and trauma processing. new research Published on Wednesday. Researchers have found that black children are more affected than white children. This is mainly due to the amount of poverty and adversity they face.

Researchers analyzed MRI scans to identify small differences in the volume of specific brain structures, which accumulate as children grow older and may play a role in the development of later mental health problems. The findings are part of a new field of research looking at how racism and other social factors affect the physical structure of the brain. PTSD.

Nathaniel Harnett says, “Even in children aged 9 to 10, the disparities faced by certain groups of people affect how the brain reacts in areas that can lead to trauma and stress-related disorders such as PTSD.” A neuroscience assistant at McLean Hospital, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and a senior author on the study, “If you’re going to treat the world as colorblind, then all You can’t create mental health solutions that work for people.”

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As many studies, including the current one, confirm, black children in America experience more adversity than white children because of historical and deep structural inequalities. White child caregivers who participated in the study were three times more likely to be employed, had higher levels of education, and were much more likely to earn more than $35,000 a year. children were more likely to experience traumatic events and family conflicts, and were more likely to live in poorer and more violent neighborhoods.

However, it is difficult to link such factors to differences in brain development, which can be subtle and difficult to detect, many brain imaging studies have small sample sizes, and many such studies are diverse. There is the fact that it lacks sexuality.

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Current research takes advantage of strong adolescent brain cognitive development, or AIUEO, a study founded and funded by the National Institutes of Health in 2015 to study the early adulthood brains and experiences of 9- and 10-year-olds in approximately 12,000 Americans. The study included surveys completed by both parents and children, as well as detailed indicators on the socioeconomic characteristics of participants’ neighborhoods.

The ABCD study fell short of the goal of having participants reflect the American population, but it is much more diverse than most studies of its kind. It contained about 1,800 black children, allowing Harnett’s group to investigate differences between black and white children. (Due to small sample sizes and the complexity of studying how structural racism affects different groups, other racial and ethnic groups were not included in the study. In the near future, I will be mixed-race like him.)

By analyzing brain scans, researchers found that black children had lower amounts of gray matter, areas packed with neurons that process information, in 11 of the 14 brain regions examined. The field of psychiatry has a long history of looking for differences in the black brain and attributing them to race, but such ideas failed to withstand modern scrutinyThese claims are ludicrous in the face of mountains of scientific evidence showing that: Race is a social construct And humans of different races (a category often used in research as a surrogate for geographical ancestry) share 99.9% of their DNA. New research provides evidence to further refute this discredited notion.

A new analysis published in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that imbalances in 8 of 14 areas of the brain are influenced by childhood adversity, especially low household income. The study found smaller brain volumes in these regions in children with lower household incomes, both blacks and whites. However, as more black children live in low-income households, they are more likely to be affected. We found that up to half of the differences could be attributed to social factors.

“This is not a racial effect. It’s a race relationship. Adversity is related to structural differences,” said Harnett. “Past experiences shape how we respond to future trauma, and these experiences are largely racially aligned.”

Negar Fani, a neuroscientist at Emory University, told STAT that the findings “could explain how structural inequalities manifested in early development might increase the risk of brain health disparities in black Americans.” It has greatly contributed to our understanding of how we can create Her research focuses on developing targeted interventions for trauma, and new research suggests that buffers against injustice and stress, such as training, therapy, and breathing exercises, can be applied to specific racial and ethnic communities. She said it suggests to her that she needs to adjust accordingly and be more effective.

The researchers focused on three areas of the brain that are important for emotional and threat processing. The hippocampus plays an important role in learning and memory. and the prefrontal cortex, which regulates fear responses. They found that these areas, which are particularly closely associated with PTSD, were on average smaller in black children and smallest in those who experienced the most adversity. I also had more severe symptoms of PTSD.

Harnett said he interprets the findings as “neuroanatomical consequences of racially distinct toxic stress environments.”toxic stress Disrupting structures in the developing brain It produces too many or too few neurons in harmful ways. The effects of such changes may not become apparent until adulthood, and may also affect brain aging. Black brains may age faster due to the influence of racial stressors.

Perhaps as important as what the researchers found was what they didn’t find, or couldn’t ask because of study limitations. However, direct exposure to nutrition or toxins was not included. A broader range of stressors could be explored.)

Trauma history and family conflict were not found to be associated with differences in the brain. “One of the things we hope is that these changes are malleable and can be improved with upbringing and more resources.” It’s something,” he said.

Deanna Barch, principal investigator of the ABCD study, said: editorial Accompanying the new study, he praised the study for raising awareness that differences in the brain are not tied to race.

But Birch, a professor of psychology and brain science at the University of Washington in St. Louis, said that race still played a role because the study attributed only some of the brain differences found to social factors. “What is worrisome is that naive or ill-intentioned readers may turn these results upside down…and some people can say they are radically different or less,” she told STAT.

She believes that other social factors not considered in the study, such as the direct impact of racism and school quality, and interactions between factors such as family income, material hardship, and neighborhood safety, affect the brain. He said that it is highly possible to explain the difference between

Birch also said he was concerned that research that focused on defects in brain structure could further stigmatize help-needed children, but that the study was not for all He said it was a call to action to provide children with social safety nets, health care, and schools. I hate to give, because it’s not true.

Like many medical fields, psychiatry has a deep history of racism. This includes abusive treatments and experiments on people from marginalized racial groups, staying silent about racism, and working hard to address wide disparities in access to mental health care. Is not …American Psychiatric Association apologized For its role in structural racism in 2021, however, some leaders in the field say new research shows more needs to be done.

Ned H. Kalin, chief of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Psychiatry, called the findings very important. As an area that speaks out on the harmful psychological effects of race-related disparities in childhood adversity, evokes the fact that these disparities result from systemic racism, and vigorously supports remedial efforts. . “

This is part of a series of articles investigating racism in health and medicine, federal fund.

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