138: Social exposome and dementia in Latin America

Migeot J et al., Nature Communications - Large multicenter study linking a multidimensional social exposome (education, food insecurity, finances, healthcare access, childhood experiences) to cognition, function, neuropsychiatric symptoms, brain atrophy and connectivity in AD, FTLD and healthy aging across six Latin American countries. Key terms: social exposome, dementia, Latin America, brain connectivity, food insecurity.

Study Highlights:
The study evaluated 2,211 participants across six Latin American countries using a validated multidimensional social exposome (MSE) score spanning education, food insecurity, financial status, assets, healthcare access, childhood labor and traumatic events. Greater adverse MSE correlated with poorer cognition in healthy aging and with lower cognitive and functional performance and increased neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). Higher MSE adversity associated with reduced gray matter and altered resting-state functional connectivity in fronto-temporo-limbic and cerebellar regions. Food insecurity, financial resources, subjective socioeconomic status and access to healthcare emerged as key predictors and cumulative MSE outperformed individual factors.

Conclusion:
A cumulative, lifespan multidimensional social exposome strongly associates with worse clinical, cognitive and brain outcomes in aging and dementia across Latin America, highlighting the need for prevention and interventions that address social disparities.

Music:
Enjoy the music based on this article at the end of the episode.

Article title:
Social exposome and brain health outcomes of dementia across Latin America

First author:
Migeot J

Journal:
Nature Communications

DOI:
10.1038/s41467-025-63277-6

Reference:
Migeot J, Pina-Escudero SD, Hernandez H, et al. Social exposome and brain health outcomes of dementia across Latin America. Nature Communications. 2025;16:8196. doi:10.1038/s41467-025-63277-6

License:
This episode is based on an open-access article published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Episode link: https://basebybase.com/episodes/social-exposome-and-brain-health-outcomes-of-dementia-across-latin-america

QC:
This episode was checked against the original article PDF and publication metadata for the episode release published on 2025-09-15.

QC Scope:
- article metadata and core scientific claims from the narration
- excludes analogies, intro/outro, and music
- transcript coverage: Audited the transcript sections describing the MSE concept, lifespan-domain assessment, reverse-causation controls, neuroimaging findings (GMV and rs-fMRI connectivity), cross-site harmonization, and broader implications for dementia risk and social disparities.
- transcript topics: Multidimensional social exposome (MSE) concept; Lifespan-domain scoring and 10 domains; Reverse causation controls and SEM; Brain structural correlates: gray matter volume reductions in AD/FTLD; Functional connectivity and compensatory hyperconnectivity; Scanner harmonization and sensitivity analyses

QC Summary:
- factual score: 10/10
- metadata score: 10/10
- supported core claims: 6
- claims flagged for review: 0
- metadata checks passed: 4
- metadata issues found: 0

Metadata Audited:
- article_doi
- article_title
- article_journal
- license

Factual Items Audited:
- MSE is a lifespan, multi-domain construct spanning 10 domains (education, food insecurity, financial status, assets, healthcare access, childhood labor, subjective SES, childhood e
- MSE is associated with worse cognition, reduced functional ability, and more neuropsychiatric symptoms across the sample; the global MSE is a stronger predictor than single factors
- In healthy aging, top MSE indicators include assets, education, and financial status; in dementia (AD, FTLD), predictors spread across domains with food insecurity, financial statu
- Adverse MSE is linked to reduced gray matter volume in dementia, with AD showing involvement of frontal lobes, insula, and cerebellum; FTLD shows fronto-temporo-cerebellar patterns
- Resting-state connectivity shows compensatory hyperconnectivity in AD with higher MSE, and patterns differ for FTLD; cross-network changes accompany structural decline.
- Analyses account for scanner differences via harmonization and covariates; sensitivity analyses show robustness to SNR and motion across sites.

QC result: Pass.