Interactive Effects of Prenatal Drug Exposure and Socioeconomic Status on Early Brain Connectivity

COEX 

Prenatal drug exposure (PDE) and socioeconomic status (SES) are known to independently affect newborn brain functional network development (Gao 2015, Salzwedel 2015, Liu 2022). Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) studies in infants and children with PDE show connectivity disruptions in limbic regions involved in reward processing and emotion regulation (Morie 2019, Ross 2015, Salzwedel 2015, Liu 2022). SES has also been linked with infant functional connectivity development in the default-mode network (Gao 2015). However, little is known about the combined effect of PDE and SES on early neurodevelopment. In this study, we used rsfMRI to examine both the unique and potentially interactive effects of PDE and SES (i.e., indexed by maternal education (MEdu)) on functional connectivity at birth.