Brain Activity of Young Children in Bangladesh Is Associated With Biopsychosocial Conditions at the Individual-, Family-, and Household-Level.

Adversities in early life compromise children's nurturing care and impact their development. This study explored the biopsychosocial conditions associated with electroencephalography (EEG)-based brain activity in children living in rural Bangladesh, a setting with high rates of malnutrition and suboptimal psychosocial stimulation. In a substudy of the Benefits and Risks of Iron Supplementation in Children (BRISC) study in Bangladesh, we recorded resting EEG brain activity in a random subsample of 440 children at 11 months and 594 children at 20 months of age. EEG band power measures were derived for delta, theta, alpha, and beta power bands. Validated tools were used to assess maternal depression, household food insecurity, and psychosocial stimulation. Children's anthropometry, venous hemoglobin and ferritin concentrations, and inflammation were also measured. Linear regression analyses were conducted to identify the concurrent and lagged biopsychosocial conditions associated with EEG-based brain activity. Growth, nutritional status, psychosocial stimulation, and household food security were associated with concurrent and lagged brain activity. The direction of association differed by EEG frequency band, but the majority of biopsychosocial conditions were positively associated with activity in the higher frequency bands and negatively with lower frequency bands. Our findings indicate that brain activity in children can be influenced by a range of biopsychosocial adversities. Children's nutrition, quality and quantity of psychosocial stimulation, and food security influence their current and later brain activity in this resource-limited setting in South Asia. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ACTRN12617000660381.