Imaging Social and Environmental Factors as Modulators of Brain Dysfunction: Time to Focus on Developing Non-Western Societies

Social and environmental factors are known risk factors and modulators of mental health disorders. We here conducted a nonsystematic review of the neuroimaging literature studying the effects of poverty, urbanicity, and community violence, highlighting the opportunities of studying non-Western developing societies such as those in Latin America. Social and environmental factors in these communities are widespread and have a large magnitude, as well as an unequal distribution, providing a good opportunity for their characterization. Studying the effect of poverty in these settings could help to explore the brain effect of economic improvements, disentangle the effect of absolute and relative poverty, and characterize the modulating impact of poverty on the underlying biology of mental health disorders. Exploring urbanicity effects in highly unequal cities could help identify the specific factors that modulate this effect as well as examine a possible dose–response effect by studying megacities. Studying brain changes in those living among violence, which is particularly high in places such as Latin America, could help to characterize the interplay between brain predisposition and exposure to violence. Furthermore, exploring the brain in an adverse environment should shed light on the mechanisms underlying resilience. We finally provide examples of two methodological approaches that could contribute to this field, namely a big cohort study in the developing world and a consortium-based meta-analytic approach, and argue about the potential translational value of this research on the development of effective social policies and successful personalized medicine in disadvantaged societies. Fil: Crossley, Nicolas A.. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Chile Fil: Alliende, Luz Maria. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Chile Fil: Ossandon, Tomas. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Chile Fil: Castañeda, Carmen Paz. Instituto Psiquiátrico Dr. José Horwitz Barak; Chile Fil: González Valderrama, Alfonso. Instituto Psiquiátrico Dr. José Horwitz Barak; Chile. Universidad Finis Terrae.; Chile Fil: Undurraga, Juan. Universidad del Desarrollo; Chile. Instituto Psiquiátrico Dr. José Horwitz Barak; Chile Fil: Castro, Mariana Nair. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Guinjoan, Salvador Martín. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina; Argentina. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Díaz Zuluaga, Ana M.. Universidad de Antioquia; Colombia Fil: Pineda-Zapata, Julián A.. Instituto de Alta Tecnología Médica; Colombia Fil: López-Jaramillo, Carlos. Hospital Universitario San Vicente Fundación; Colombia. Universidad de Antioquia; Colombia Fil: Reyes Madrigal, Francisco. Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía; México Fil: León-Ortíz, Pablo. Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía; México Fil: de la Fuente-Sandoval, Camilo. Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía; México Fil: Czepielewski, Leticia Sanguinetti. Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre; Brasil Fil: Gama, Clarissa S.. Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre; Brasil Fil: Zugman, Andre. Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo; Brasil Fil: Gadelha, Ary. Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo; Brasil Fil: Jackowski, Andrea. Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo; Brasil Fil: Bressan, Rodrigo. Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo; Brasil