Journal Article

Global and regional annual brain volume loss rates in physiological aging

Spies, Lothar, Schippling, Sven, Gocke, Carola, Ostwaldt, Ann-Christin, Huppertz, Hans-Jürgen, Manogaran, Praveena, Opfer, Roland, Suppa, Per

2017

Overview

The objective is to estimate average global and regional percentage brain volume loss per year (BVL/year) of the physiologically ageing brain. Two independent, cross-sectional single scanner cohorts of healthy subjects were included. The first cohort ( n  = 248) was acquired at the Medical Prevention Center (MPCH) in Hamburg, Germany. The second cohort ( n  = 316) was taken from the Open Access Series of Imaging Studies (OASIS). Brain parenchyma (BP), grey matter (GM), white matter (WM), corpus callosum (CC), and thalamus volumes were calculated. A non-parametric technique was applied to fit the resulting age–volume data. For each age, the BVL/year was derived from the age–volume curves. The resulting BVL/year curves were compared between the two cohorts. For the MPCH cohort, the BVL/year curve of the BP was an increasing function starting from 0.20% at the age of 35 years increasing to 0.52% at 70 years (corresponding values for GM ranged from 0.32 to 0.55%, WM from 0.02 to 0.47%, CC from 0.07 to 0.48%, and thalamus from 0.25 to 0.54%). Mean absolute difference between BVL/year trajectories across the age range of 35–70 years was 0.02% for BP, 0.04% for GM, 0.04% for WM, 0.11% for CC, and 0.02% for the thalamus. Physiological BVL/year rates were remarkably consistent between the two cohorts and independent from the scanner applied. Average BVL/year was clearly age and compartment dependent. These results need to be taken into account when defining cut-off values for pathological annual brain volume loss in disease models, such as multiple sclerosis.

• Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Adolescent / Adult / Age / Aged / Aged, 80 and over / Aging / Aging - pathology / Atrophy / Brain / Brain - diagnostic imaging / Brain - pathology / Cohort Studies / Cross-Sectional Studies / Disease prevention / Female / Germany / Gray Matter - diagnostic imaging / Gray Matter - pathology / Humans / Magnetic resonance imaging / Male / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Middle Aged / Multiple sclerosis / Neurology / Neuroradiology / Neurosciences / Organ Size / Original Communication / Pathology / Physiology / Prevention programs / Psychotropic drugs / Scanners / White Matter - diagnostic imaging / White Matter - pathology / Young Adult