Regional Brain Volume Variation Across Adulthood: A Cross-Sectional MRI Analysis of Age, Sex, and Hemispheric Asymmetry.

Authors

Tanmoy Debnath, Md Geaur Rahman, Sourabhi Debnath, Minh Chau

Published in

Life (Basel, Switzerland). Volume 16. Issue 8. Aug 18, 2026. Epub Aug 18, 2026.

Abstract

Distinguishing normative cross-sectional structural age differences from early neurodegeneration requires region-specific characterisation of cross-sectional age-related variation, yet findings remain sensitive to modelling strategy and intracranial volume (ICV) correction. T1-weighted MRI from 187 healthy adults (97 female, 90 male; aged 16.22-81.48 years) in the AgeRisk dataset were segmented using Vol2Brain. Multiple regression models applied to 19 predefined brain regions tested linear and quadratic age, sex, ICV, and signal-to-noise ratio (FDR-corrected within predictor families); hemispheric asymmetry indices were Bonferroni-corrected. Three hypothesis domains were preregistered: age associations, sex differences, and hemispheric asymmetry. Negative cross-sectional age associations were observed in subcortical (hippocampus, amygdala, caudate, putamen, and nucleus accumbens) and cortical regions (insula, temporal and occipital lobes; all pFDR<0.05). The parietal lobe showed significant quadratic curvature (pFDR=0.008); total cortical grey matter showed no age effect. White matter exhibited a positive linear rather than the hypothesised inverted-U relationship. After ICV adjustment, females showed greater grey-matter-dominant volumes and males greater cerebrospinal fluid volume (both pFDR<0.05). Sex-by-age interactions in four subcortical regions indicated shallower negative cross-sectional age associations in females (all pFDR≤0.034). Age was associated with reduced parietal and temporal hemispheric asymmetry (both p<0.001). Findings confirm regionally heterogeneous ageing, ICV-adjusted sex differences, and a selective negative cross-sectional association between age and hemispheric asymmetry, consistent with the broader lifespan literature.

PMID:
42653044
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 01 Oct 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.