Post by Admin on Apr 19, 2021 11:58:59 GMT
Inflammatory and Neurological Changes Connected to Childhood Poverty
Findings illuminate the impact of childhood poverty on inflammation and neurological responses to threats and rewards.
www.madinamerica.com/2021/04/study-finds-inflammatory-neurological-changes-connected-childhood-poverty/
Early exposure to severe, chronic stress leaves children vulnerable to a series of health problems over the lifespan. Researchers recently tested the hypothesis that the stress created by conditions of poverty in childhood affects peripheral inflammatory cells and the brain regions involved in the processing of threats and rewards.
The study, led by psychologist Gregory Miller at Northwestern University, examined the connection between poverty, inflammation, and neural responses in a sample of urban youth from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Their results, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, provide support for the “neuroimmune network hypothesis,” which suggests that children facing socioeconomic disadvantage are, on average, more likely to show inflammatory biomarkers and increased reactivity to threats and rewards in the environment.
These biological and behavior patterns may be adaptive, allowing for greater responsiveness in unpredictable contexts. However, the authors suggest that the long-term consequences of these neuroinflammatory responses can contribute to the development of physical health problems, “increases risk for fear-related symptoms (e.g., vigilance, worry, rumination) by modulating amygdala circuity, and motivation-related symptoms by modulating striatal circuitry (e.g., substance misuse, anhedonia, mania).”
“As the neuroimmune network hypothesis suggests,” Miller and his coauthors write, “these neural and behavioral changes might, in turn, initiate a positive feedback loop that worsens psychiatric symptoms and extends them into other realms.”
The results seem to underline the preventative effects of social programs and policies that address childhood poverty. Instead of addressing how to improve the environments that lead to the development of biological and behavioral changes that undermine public health, the authors instead focus on applying their results to “facilitate a next generation of interventions that improve psychiatric outcomes by targeting brain-to-immune and/or immune-to-brain signaling.”
Am J Psychiatry
. 2021 Apr 1;178(4):313-320. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.20050635. Epub 2020 Nov 19.
Association of Inflammatory Activity With Larger Neural Responses to Threat and Reward Among Children Living in Poverty
Gregory E Miller 1, Stuart F White 1, Edith Chen 1, Robin Nusslock 1
Affiliations expand
PMID: 33207936 PMCID: PMC8016707 (available on 2022-04-01) DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.20050635
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33207936/
Findings illuminate the impact of childhood poverty on inflammation and neurological responses to threats and rewards.
www.madinamerica.com/2021/04/study-finds-inflammatory-neurological-changes-connected-childhood-poverty/
Early exposure to severe, chronic stress leaves children vulnerable to a series of health problems over the lifespan. Researchers recently tested the hypothesis that the stress created by conditions of poverty in childhood affects peripheral inflammatory cells and the brain regions involved in the processing of threats and rewards.
The study, led by psychologist Gregory Miller at Northwestern University, examined the connection between poverty, inflammation, and neural responses in a sample of urban youth from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Their results, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, provide support for the “neuroimmune network hypothesis,” which suggests that children facing socioeconomic disadvantage are, on average, more likely to show inflammatory biomarkers and increased reactivity to threats and rewards in the environment.
These biological and behavior patterns may be adaptive, allowing for greater responsiveness in unpredictable contexts. However, the authors suggest that the long-term consequences of these neuroinflammatory responses can contribute to the development of physical health problems, “increases risk for fear-related symptoms (e.g., vigilance, worry, rumination) by modulating amygdala circuity, and motivation-related symptoms by modulating striatal circuitry (e.g., substance misuse, anhedonia, mania).”
“As the neuroimmune network hypothesis suggests,” Miller and his coauthors write, “these neural and behavioral changes might, in turn, initiate a positive feedback loop that worsens psychiatric symptoms and extends them into other realms.”
The results seem to underline the preventative effects of social programs and policies that address childhood poverty. Instead of addressing how to improve the environments that lead to the development of biological and behavioral changes that undermine public health, the authors instead focus on applying their results to “facilitate a next generation of interventions that improve psychiatric outcomes by targeting brain-to-immune and/or immune-to-brain signaling.”
Am J Psychiatry
. 2021 Apr 1;178(4):313-320. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.20050635. Epub 2020 Nov 19.
Association of Inflammatory Activity With Larger Neural Responses to Threat and Reward Among Children Living in Poverty
Gregory E Miller 1, Stuart F White 1, Edith Chen 1, Robin Nusslock 1
Affiliations expand
PMID: 33207936 PMCID: PMC8016707 (available on 2022-04-01) DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.20050635
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33207936/