Empirical evidence from preclinical and epidemiological studies supports the critical
role of the early environment for brain development. Against the background of genetic
predisposition, environmental conditions thus have the potential to shape risk for
mental health disorders (
1
). These conditions include variation in psychosocial circumstances and stress exposure,
parental health and health-related behaviors, nutrition, physical activity, sleep,
exposure to environmental chemicals, variation in the geophysical environment, and
airborne exposures. Preclinical and epidemiological studies rarely consider all these
exposures at once. Culprit exposures are singled out following adjustment for some
of the remainder and—for most studies—without specification of a causal model. Simiarly,
attempts for experimental verification in applied animal models rely on modification
of a single exposure out of this vast array (e.g., stress). Certainly, these approaches
build on theory and prior knowledge and are important to understand whether and how
specific exposures may affect mental health. However, they may have limited validity
for translation to the human context where these singular risk factors rarely exist
in isolation. For instance, high stress in socially disadvantaged individuals is commonly
accompanied by poor nutrition and a higher rate of exposure to environmental chemicals.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Biological PsychiatryAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Adverse prenatal exposures and fetal brain development: Insights from advanced fetal magnetic resonance imaging.Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2022; 7: 480-490
- Transmission of the adverse consequences of childhood maltreatment across generations: Focus on gestational biology.Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2022; 215173372
- Counterfactual prediction is not only for causal inference.Eur J Epidemiol. 2020; 35: 615-617
- An introduction to g methods.Int J Epidemiol. 2017; 46: 756-762
- Advancing tools for human early lifecourse exposome research and translation (ATHLETE): Project overview.Environ Epidemiol. 2021; 5: e166
- Marginal structural models to estimate the causal effect of zidovudine on the survival of HIV-positive men.Epidemiology. 2000; 11: 561-570
- DOHaD - The challenge of translating the science to policy.J Dev Orig Health Dis. 2019; 10: 263-267
- Merging the exposome into an integrated framework for “omics” sciences.iScience. 2022; 25103976
- Association between exposure to a mixture of phenols, pesticides, and phthalates and obesity: Comparison of three statistical models.Environ Int. 2019; 123: 325-336
- Glucocorticoid exposure during hippocampal neurogenesis primes future stress response by inducing changes in DNA methylation.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020; 117: 23280-23285
Article Info
Publication History
Published online: June 24, 2022
Accepted:
June 22,
2022
Received:
June 22,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2022 Society of Biological Psychiatry.
