Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40061349›Full record

ArticlemedRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences2025

Precision Estimates of Longitudinal Brain Aging Capture Unexpected Individual Differences in One Year: Summary: A novel brain imaging method boosts precision to reveal variable brain aging trajectories.

Maxwell L Elliott, Jingnan Du, Jared A Nielsen, Lindsay C Hanford, Pia Kivisäkk, Steven E Arnold, Bradford C Dickerson, Ross W Mair, Mark C Eldaief, Randy L Buckner

Abstract readPreprint
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Maxwell L ElliottDepartment of Psychology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-1083-6277
Jingnan DuDepartment of Psychology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-1647-6698
Jared A NielsenDepartment of Psychology, Neuroscience Center, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, 84602, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-2717-193X
Lindsay C HanfordDepartment of Psychology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-5788-9651
Pia KivisäkkAlzheimer's Disease Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-9708-7509
Steven E ArnoldAlzheimer's Disease Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-9487-415X
Bradford C DickersonAlzheimer's Disease Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-5958-3445
Ross W MairDepartment of Psychology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.ORCID 0009-0004-8085-407X
Mark C EldaiefAlzheimer's Disease Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-4919-2897
Randy L BucknerDepartment of Psychology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6422-8037

Funding

Research Education ComponentP30AG062421 · NIA · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI Teresa Gomez-Isla · 2019 to 2026
$36.5M
Imaging tau, amyloid, and neurodegeneration in PPAR01DC014296 · NIDCD · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI DICKERSON, BRADFORD C, JOHNSON, KEITH A. · 2016 to 2020
$4.3M
Robust detection of atrophy over short intervals in AD and FTLDR01AG081249 · NIA · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI BRADFORD C DICKERSON · 2023 to 2026
$3.3M
Exploration of MRI measures of neurodegeneration within individuals over short intervalsR01AG067420 · NIA · HARVARD UNIVERSITY · PI BUCKNER, RANDY L · 2020 to 2024
$3.1M
Upgrade Siemens MAGNETOM Trio to MAGNETOM Prisma Fit 3T Human MRI SystemS10OD020039 · OD · HARVARD UNIVERSITY · PI BUCKNER, RANDY L · 2015 to 2015
$600k
Training in lifespan behavioral, social, and neuroscience research connecting early-life cognitive decline to late-life ADRDK00AG068432 · NIA · HARVARD UNIVERSITY · PI ELLIOTT, MAXWELL LORENZ · 2022 to 2025
$319k
NIA NIH HHS K00 AG068432NIA NIH HHS P30 AG062421NIA NIH HHS R01 AG067420NIA NIH HHS R01 AG081249NIDCD NIH HHS R01 DC014296NIH HHS S10 OD020039
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Longitudinal studies are required to measure individual differences in human brain aging, but they are difficult to estimate over short intervals because of measurement error. Using cluster scanning, an approach that reduces error by densely repeating rapid structural scans, we assessed brain aging in individuals across three longitudinal timepoints spaced across one year. Cluster scanning substantially improved the precision of individualized estimates, revealing previously undetectable individual differences in brain change. In just one year, expected differences in the rates of brain aging between younger and older individuals were evident, as were differences between cognitively unimpaired and impaired individuals. Each person's brain change trajectory was compared to modeled normative expectations from a large cohort of age-matched UK Biobank participants. Cognitively unimpaired older individuals variably revealed relative brain maintenance, unexpectedly rapid decline, and asymmetrical changes. These atypical brain aging trajectories were found across structures and verified in independent within-individual test and retest data. Cluster scanning promises to advance our understanding of the marked heterogeneity in brain aging by affording better short-term tracking of individual variability in structural change.

Indexed as

Alzheimer’s diseaseFrontotemporal Lobar DegenerationhippocampusMRIUK Biobank

Identifiers

PMID40061349
PMCPMC11888524

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.