Poverty may increase childhood risk of neurological impairment

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-12/nksn-pmi121115.php

Public Release: 16-Dec-2015
Poverty may increase childhood risk of neurological impairment, NIH study suggests
NIH/Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Children from low income environments appear to have a higher risk of neurological impairment than those from more economically secure circumstances, according to researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions. This neurological impairment appears to be distinct from the risk of cognitive and emotional delays known to accompany early-life poverty.

In most cases, the level of neurological impairment the researchers found would not be apparent to a casual observer. That level could, however, increase, the risk for childhood learning difficulties, attention deficit disorders and psychological conditions such as anxiety disorders and schizophrenia.

"The size of the effect we saw was modest," said the study's senior author, Stephen Gilman, Sc.D., acting chief of the Health Behavior Branch at NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). "However, the findings do indicate that an impoverished environment may pose a hazard for a child's developing nervous system."

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When the researchers factored in the likelihood for pregnancy and birth complications--more common among women in poverty--they found little difference in neurological impairment at birth between the children, despite their parents' socioeconomic disadvantage.

However, beginning at age 4 months, the chance of having a neurological abnormality was higher in the most disadvantaged children (12.8 percent), compared to the least disadvantaged (9.3 percent). By age 7, the likelihood of a neurological abnormality increased to 20.2 percent among the most disadvantaged, compared to 13.5 percent among the least disadvantaged. The greater frequency of pregnancy complications in the most disadvantaged group did not account for its higher percentage of neurological impairment.

Although there have been advances in the techniques used to diagnose neurological impairment in the years since the data were collected, the study authors said that the diagnostic approaches used in the study are still effective for detecting neurological problems. Possible reasons for the higher rate of neurological impairment among the most disadvantaged group include maternal alcohol or drug use and higher levels of maternal stress hormones during pregnancy, the authors said. Factors that could increase the children's risk for impairment after birth include maltreatment and parental anxiety and depression.

The authors wrote that further research into how childhood poverty might contribute to neurological impairment could lead to ways to prevent neurological impairment from occurring. They added that the percentage of children living below the federal poverty threshold is higher today than it was when the CPP data were collected.