Australia; International; VIC
Aussie and US scientists say babies of mothers who experienced greater socioeconomic disadvantage during pregnancy may have smaller brains than babies of wealthier mothers. The team looked at data from 399 mum-bub pairs from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, including scans of the babies' brains. They found greater social disadvantage was linked with reductions in the volumes of babies' white matter and gray matter, and a reduction in cortical folding. Although this type of study cannot show that social disadvantage actually caused the changes in brain volume seen, the researchers say the findings suggest the links between poverty and brain development begin in the womb, and early intervention to support bub's brain development should be targetted at struggling families.
From:
Prenatal Exposure to Early-Life Adversity, Brain Volumes at Birth
What The Study Did: This study of 280 mother-infant pairs examined whether maternal social disadvantage and psychosocial stress during pregnancy were associated with infant brain volumes at birth.
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