title: Cortical Thinning at Midlife: The PATH Through Life Study.
abstract: Cortical thinning is a part of normal ageing. Recent studies suggest that accelerated cortical thinning in vulnerable regions may be a useful biomarker for neuropathologies including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Longitudinal studies, which have largely focused on older adults, have provided estimates of normative rates and patterns of age-related cortical thinning. Very little, however, is known about healthy cortical thinning at midlife. Here we provide longitudinal estimates of age-related cortical thinning observed over 8 years, in a large (n = 404) group of healthy individuals aged 44-49 years at baseline, who were scanned with MRI (1.5T) on up to three occasions. Age-related cortical thinning was assessed across the whole cortex. We measured a mean annual decrease in cortical thickness of 0.26 % on the left and 0.17 % on the right hemisphere, and largely affecting frontal and cingulate cortices. Medial and lateral temporal regions were generally spared. Studying regions that are specifically vulnerable to-or spared from-healthy age-related cortical thinning at midlife may be important for the early identification of neurodegeneration, including AD.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research on Ageing, Health and Wellbeing, The Australian National University, Mills Rd, Acton, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia. marnie.shaw@anu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Marnie E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research on Ageing, Health and Wellbeing, The Australian National University, Mills Rd, Acton, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.
authors.forename: Walter P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Abhayaratna
authors.affiliation: Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.|Neuropsychiatric Institute, The Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Perminder S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Sachdev
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research on Ageing, Health and Wellbeing, The Australian National University, Mills Rd, Acton, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.
authors.forename: Kaarin J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Anstey
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research on Ageing, Health and Wellbeing, The Australian National University, Mills Rd, Acton, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cherbuin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology*; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology
keywords: Aging; Cortical thickness; Healthy; Longitudinal; MRI; Midlife