Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39388067›Full record

ArticleGeroScience2025

Uncovering mediational pathways behind racial and socioeconomic disparities in brain volumes: insights from the UK Biobank study.

May A Beydoun, Hind A Beydoun, Marie T Fanelli-Kuczmarski, Yi-Han Hu, Danielle Shaked, Jordan Weiss, Shari R Waldstein, Lenore J Launer, Michele K Evans, Alan B Zonderman

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in GeroScience, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

May A BeydounLaboratory of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, National Institute On Aging, NIA/NIH/IRP, 251 Bayview Blvd., Suite 100, Room #: 04B118, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA. baydounm@mail.nih.gov.
Hind A BeydounDepartment of Research Programs, Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, Fort Belvoir, VA, 22060, USA.
Marie T Fanelli-KuczmarskiLaboratory of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, National Institute On Aging, NIA/NIH/IRP, 251 Bayview Blvd., Suite 100, Room #: 04B118, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA.
Yi-Han HuLaboratory of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, National Institute On Aging, NIA/NIH/IRP, 251 Bayview Blvd., Suite 100, Room #: 04B118, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA.
Danielle ShakedBoston Veterans' Affairs, Boston, MA, 02130, USA.
Jordan WeissStanford Center On Longevity, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA.
Shari R WaldsteinDepartment of Psychology, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Catonsville, MD, 21250, USA.
Lenore J LaunerLaboratory of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, National Institute On Aging, NIA/NIH/IRP, 251 Bayview Blvd., Suite 100, Room #: 04B118, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA.
Michele K EvansLaboratory of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, National Institute On Aging, NIA/NIH/IRP, 251 Bayview Blvd., Suite 100, Room #: 04B118, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA.
Alan B ZondermanLaboratory of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, National Institute On Aging, NIA/NIH/IRP, 251 Bayview Blvd., Suite 100, Room #: 04B118, Baltimore, MD, 21224, USA.

Funding

Healthy Aging Neighborhoods of Diversity Across LifespanZ01AG000513 · NIA · NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING · PI EVANS, MICHELE K · 2001 to 2008
$6.8M
Intramural NIH HHS Z01 AG000513NIA NIH HHS AG000513
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Mediation pathways explaining racial/ethnic and socioeconomic (SES) disparities in structural MRI markers of brain health remain underexplored. We examined racial/ethnic and SES disparities in sMRI markers and tested total, direct, and indirect effects through lifestyle, health-related, and cognition factors using a structural equations modeling approach among 36,184 UK Biobank participants aged 40-70 years at baseline assessment (47% men). Race (non-White vs. White) and lower SES-predicted poorer brain sMRI volumetric outcomes at follow-up, with racial/ethnic disparities in sMRI outcomes involving multiple pathways and SES playing a central role in those pathways. Mediational patterns differed across outcomes, with the SES-sMRI total effect being partially mediated for all outcomes. Over 20% of the total effect (TE) of race/ethnicity on WMH was explained by the indirect effect (IE), by a combination of different pathways going through SES, lifestyle, health-related, and cognition factors. This is in contrast to < 10% for total brain, gray matter (GM), white matter (WM), and frontal GM left/right. Another significant finding is that around 57% of the total effect for SES and the normalized white matter hyperintensity (WMH) was attributed to an indirect effect. This effect encompasses many pathways that involve lifestyle, health-related, and cognitive aspects. Aside from WMH, the percent of TE of SES mediated through various pathways ranged from ~ 5% for WM to > 15% up to 36% for most of the remaining sMRI outcomes, which are composed mainly of GM phenotypes. Race and SES were important determinants of brain volumetric outcomes, with partial mediation of racial/ethnic disparities through SES, lifestyle, health-related, and cognition factors.

Indexed as

BrainHealth Status DisparitiesAdultAgedBiological Specimen BanksCognitionEthnicityFemaleHumansLife StyleMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleMiddle AgedOrgan SizeSocioeconomic Disparities in HealthSocioeconomic FactorsBrain agingHealth disparitiesLifestyle factorsNeurodegenerationSocioeconomic status

Identifiers

PMID39388067
PMCPMC11979012

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.