Poverty from fetal life onward and child brain morphology

Poverty is a risk factor for impaired child development, an association possibly mediated by brain morphology. Previous studies lacked prospective poverty assessments during pregnancy and did not stratify by majority/minority status. We investigated the association of household poverty from fetal life forward with brain morphological differences at age 10 years, in 2166 mother–child dyads. Overall, the results showed no associations between any poverty exposure early in life and brain volumes. However, there was the evidence of timing effects: children exposed to poverty in utero had smaller amygdala volumes (B = − 0.18, 95%CI − 0.30; − 0.07, p(FDR-adjusted) = 0.009). There were also differences in associations by majority/minority status (cerebral white matter: p for interaction = 0.04). Dutch children exposed to childhood poverty showed smaller cerebral white matter volumes than their control (B = − 0.26, 95%CI − 0.45; − 0.06, p(FDR-adjusted) = 0.035). This association was not observed in the minority population (B = − 0.05, 95%CI − 0.23; 0.12, p(FDR-adjusted) = 0.542). The smaller cerebral white matter volume mediated the association between childhood poverty and poorer school performance in Dutch children. Our findings point to the importance of poverty exposure in the fetal period and suggest different mechanisms and vulnerabilities across majority/minority groups.