The Social Epidemiology of Neurological Health Across the Life Course: Population Transitions, Inequalities, and Prevention

Neurological health is shaped not only by biological and clinical factors but also by the social conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. Rapid population aging, urbanization, migration, changing family structures, socioeconomic development, and widening or persistent social inequalities are transforming the distribution and determinants of neurological disorders worldwide. At the individual and community levels, education, income, occupation, social networks, social participation, social isolation, loneliness, neighborhood environments, and access to health and social care may influence neurological health throughout the life course. However, these social dimensions remain insufficiently integrated into conventional neuroepidemiological research, which has often focused primarily on individual-level biomedical and behavioral risk factors.This Research Topic aims to advance the social epidemiology of neurological health by bringing together evidence on how social structures, social relationships, population transitions, and health inequalities shape neurological health across the life course. We seek to move beyond the description of disease burden towards understanding the multilevel pathways through which social conditions influence the incidence, progression, disability, mortality, and social consequences of neurological disorders. Particular attention will be given to potentially modifiable social determinants and dimensions of social health, including social participation, social support, social networks, loneliness, social isolation, social capital, and access to health and social care. Recent advances in longitudinal cohort studies, population registries, large-scale health databases, causal inference, spatial epidemiology, burden-of-disease analysis, and life-course research provide new opportunities to investigate these relationships. Ultimately, the Research Topic seeks to identify actionable pathways for prevention, reduce inequalities in neurological health, and inform equitable health and social policies.We welcome interdisciplinary contributions examining the social epidemiology of neurological health across populations and stages of the life course. Topics of interest include: (1) social determinants and socioeconomic inequalities in neurological health; (2) social health, including social isolation, loneliness, social participation, social support, and social networks; (3) the neurological consequences of population ageing, urbanization, migration, family and demographic change; (4) geographic, gender, socioeconomic, and health-care inequalities in neurological disorders; (5) life-course and intergenerational determinants of neurological health; (6) global, regional, national, and subnational trends and future burden; (7) community, health-system, social, or policy interventions for prevention and equity. We welcome Original Research, Systematic Reviews, Reviews, Methods papers, Perspectives, and other relevant article types. Studies using large-scale datasets should provide substantive methodological, causal, comparative, or policy advances beyond purely descriptive analyses. Topic editors: Ruhai Bai, Yunning Liu, Xin Wang, Xuan Yu Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86307/the-social-epidemiology-of-neurological-health-across-the-life-course-population-transitions-inequalities-and-prevention