The Influence of Sociological Factors on Brain Structure and Function

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Background

Factors of the social environment including social networks and support, neighborhood, as well as further living and working conditions have an important influence on structural and functional characteristics of the brain. Even though sociological factors are still often neglected in clinical routine, it has to be considered that their effects can be at least as strong as that of classical risk factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol, and obesity. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has redrawn attention to sociological factors, which have considerably changed for many people, being associated with structural brain damage such as infarction, white matter disintegrity, and regional volume changes. Beside structural alterations, sociological factors can influence functional alterations such as cognitive and emotional dysfunctions, regional activity changes as well as changes in functional connectivity. This has important implications for prevention, diagnostics, and treatment.

While previous research mostly focused on socioeconomic factors such as education or income, which can easily be assessed quantitatively, our goal is to also take a closer look at psychological and sociological factors and their association with brain structure and function. In contrast to socioeconomic factors, there is still no consensus on how to assess sociological factors like social isolation/support/loneliness, and further characteristics of the living and working environment, which can act as stressors for the individual. Similarly, the mechanisms via which sociological factors can alter brain structure and function are still a matter of debate. Previous suggestions comprise factors of the stress response, specific immunological responses, health behaviors, psychological factors such as depression and anxiety and environmental characteristics like noise and fine matter. However, there are large interindividual differences in the relationship between sociological factors and measures of brain structure and function, which might be influenced by subject characteristics such as age, sex, personality, and resources. Consequently, our goal is to more closely look at mechanisms and moderators of the association between sociological factors and measures of brain structure and function. We adopt a translational approach, welcoming both clinical and basic research.

The scope is the analysis of associations between sociological factors and measures of brain structure and function, possible mechanisms underlying these observed associations as well as factors leading to interindividual differences. Methods for the valid assessment of sociological factors as well as their association with brain structure and function shall be elaborated. Clinical implications regarding diagnostic, treatment, and prevention of sociological deficiencies to prevent or reduce impairment of brain structure and function shall be evaluated. Examples of sociological factors are social isolation, social support, loneliness, ethnic and cultural aspects, education, income, employment, profession, job and family stressors, neighborhood characteristics and housing conditions including environmental stressors. Brain structure can for example be assessed by CT/MRI measures of gray matter/white matter/CSF/lesion volume, cortical thickness/folding and connectivity, or post-mortem by staining techniques. Brain function can for example be assessed by neuropsychological, emotional, and behavioral testing as well as fMRI/EEG/MEG/PET during rest or specific tasks. We welcome all kinds of article types from clinical and basic research.

Keywords: sociological factors; mental processes; emotions; neuroimaging; brain damage, chronic; epidemiology; clinical trial; animal experimentation; models, animal;

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