AUTHOR=Adise Shana , Marshall Andrew T. , Kan Eric , Sowell Elizabeth R. 

TITLE=Access to quality health resources and environmental toxins affect the relationship between brain structure and BMI in a sample of pre and early adolescents

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1061049

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.1061049

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Background: Environmental resources are related to childhood obesity risk and altered brain development, but whether these relationships are stable or if they have sustained impact is unknown. Here, we utilized a multidimensional index of childhood neighborhood conditions to compare the influence of various social and environmental disparities (SED) on body mass index (BMI)-brain relationships over a two-year period in early adolescence. 
Methods: Data were gathered the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study® (n=2970, 49.8% female, 69.1% White, no siblings). Structure magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI), anthropometrics, and demographic information were collected at baseline (9/10-years-old) and the two-year-follow-up (11/12-years-old). Region of interest (ROIs; 68 cortical, 18 subcortical) estimates of cortical thickness and subcortical volume were extracted from sMRI T1w images using the Desikan atlas. Residential addresses at baseline were used to obtain geocoded estimates of SEDs from 3 domains of childhood opportunity index (COI): healthy environment [COIHE], social/economic [COISE], and education [COIED]). Nested, random-effects mixed models were conducted to evaluate relationships of BMI with (1) ROI * COI[domain] and (2) ROI * COI[domain] * Time. Models controlled for sex, race, ethnicity, puberty, and the other two COI domains of non-interest, allowing us to estimate the unique variance explained by each domain and its interaction with ROI and time. 
Results: Youth living in areas with lower COISE and COIED scores were heavier at the two-year follow-up than baseline and exhibited greater thinning in the bilateral occipital cortex between visits. Lower COISE scores corresponded with larger volume of the bilateral caudate and greater BMI at the two-year follow-up. COIHE scores showed the greatest associations (n=20 ROIs) with brain-BMI relationships: youth living in areas with lower COIHE had thinner cortices in prefrontal regions and larger volumes of the left pallidum and Ventral DC. Time did not moderate the COIHE x ROI interaction for any brain region during the examined two-year period. Findings were independent of family income (i.e., income-to-needs).
Conclusion: Collectively our findings demonstrate that neighborhood SEDs for health-promoting resources play a particularly important role in moderating relationships between brain and BMI in early adolescence regardless of family-level financial resources.