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Functional neuroimaging as a tool to understand social determinants of health in cognitive aging and ADRD: a scoping review
Jenkins JE, Rich A, Manrique I, Moukaled S, Marchant NL, Carmichael O.. PsyArXiv, 2026-10-20
Topic: Brain imaging, connectivity and assessment
The social, structural, and physical conditions in which individuals live, work, and age, collectively termed social determinants of health (SDOH), are associated with risk of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). Differences in brain function in later life may offer understanding of how SDOH become biologically embedded and confer differential ADRD risk. However, how functional neuroimaging techniques have been used to study SDOH in cognitive aging and ADRD has yet to be systematically characterized. We therefore conducted a scoping review. Three databases were searched, 2,930 articles were screened, and 41 studies were included. Education was the most frequently studied SDOH domain, accounting for 65.9% (k = 27) of studies, followed by economic and occupation (k = 9, 22.0%), social and community (k = 5, 12.2%), food (k = 4, 9.8%), and physical environment (k = 3, 7.3%). Of the 41 studies, five (12.2%) examined multidomain determinants and one study (2.4%) examined three determinants each from different domains. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was most frequently employed (k = 31, 75.6%), followed by electroencephalography (EEG; k = 7, 17.1%), and magnetoencephalography (MEG; k = 4, 9.8%). One study (2.4%) employed a multimodal approach, while none used functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Resting state paradigms (k = 27, 65.9%) outnumbered task-based (k = 14, 34.1%) and most studies were cross-sectional (k = 38, 92.7%). The predominant focus on education, fMRI, and cross-sectional designs highlights many opportunities for future investigation of how SDOH may be associated with later life brain function.
Key findings
- The social, structural, and physical conditions in which individuals live, work, and age, collectively termed social determinants of health (SDOH), are associated with risk of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD).
- The predominant focus on education, fMRI, and cross-sectional designs highlights many opportunities for future investigation of how SDOH may be associated with later life brain function.
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Study details
- Study designcross-sectional
- Effect sizeor 65.9; 22.0%; 12.2%
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 16/100
Preprint — not yet peer-reviewed. It scored 31 on the same rubric, but non-peer-reviewed sources are capped at 16, so it shows as 16. Scored zero for sample size, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 19 of the 62 points we could judge it on, which is 31 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 2 / 10 | Tier 4 — not a peer-reviewed journal (PsyArXiv) |
| Journal's citation record | 0 / 4 | Not a journal article, so the journal's record does not count |
| Study design | 4 / 12 | A snapshot of people at one point in time |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 4 / 10 | Preprint — not yet peer-reviewed. Hosted on a preprint server. |
| How recent | 5 / 5 | 2026 — within 1 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 2 / 3 | Effect reported as a number, without an interval or test |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 1 / 2 | Not in PubMed, but has a DOI |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 19 / 62 | Scored on 12 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 19 of the 62 points we could judge it on is 31 out of 100. |
| Total | 31 / 100 | Capped to 16 because this is not a peer-reviewed article. |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Jenkins, J. E., Rich, A., Manrique, I., Moukaled, S., Marchant, N. L., & Carmichael, O. (2026). Functional neuroimaging as a tool to understand social determinants of health in cognitive aging and ADRD: a scoping review. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/m8bue_v1
Vancouver
Jenkins JE, Rich A, Manrique I, Moukaled S, Marchant NL, Carmichael O. Functional neuroimaging as a tool to understand social determinants of health in cognitive aging and ADRD: a scoping review. PsyArXiv. 2026. doi:10.31234/osf.io/m8bue_v1.
BibTeX
@article{jenkins2026-e75f9c65,
author = {Jenkins, J. E. and Rich, A. and Manrique, I. and Moukaled, S. and Marchant, N. L. and Carmichael, O.},
title = {{Functional neuroimaging as a tool to understand social determinants of health in cognitive aging and ADRD: a scoping review}},
journal = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/m8bue_v1},
url = {https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/m8bue_v1}
}
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