Brain charts for the human lifespan

Abstract

Over the past few decades, neuroimaging has become a ubiquitous tool in basic research and clinical studies of the human brain. However, no reference standards currently exist to quantify individual differences in neuroimaging metrics over time, in contrast to growth charts for anthropometric traits such as height and weight1. Here we assemble an interactive open resource to benchmark brain morphology derived from any current or future sample of MRI data (http://www.brainchart.io/). With the goal of basing these reference charts on the largest and most inclusive dataset available, acknowledging limitations due to known biases of MRI studies relative to the diversity of the global population, we aggregated 123,984 MRI scans, across more than 100 primary studies, from 101,457 human participants between 115 days post-conception to 100 years of age. MRI metrics were quantified by centile scores, relative to non-linear trajectories2 of brain structural changes, and rates of change, over the lifespan. Brain charts identified previously unreported neurodevelopmental milestones3, showed high stability of individuals across longitudinal assessments, and demonstrated robustness to technical and methodological differences between primary studies. Centile scores showed increased heritability compared with non-centiled MRI phenotypes, and provided a standardized measure of atypical brain structure that revealed patterns of neuroanatomical variation across neurological and psychiatric disorders. In summary, brain charts are an essential step towards robust quantification of individual variation benchmarked to normative trajectories in multiple, commonly used neuroimaging phenotypes. MRI data from more than 100 studies have been aggregated to yield new insights about brain development and ageing, and create an interactive open resource for comparison of brain structures throughout the human lifespan, including those associated with neurological and psychiatric disorders.

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Affiliated Institutions

• VA San Diego Healthcare System US
• University of Gothenburg SE
• Great Ormond Street Hospital GB
• Harvard University US
• Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives FR
• Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris FR
• The University of Melbourne AU
• Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust GB
• Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital ZA
• Agency for Science, Technology and Research SG
• Trinity College Dublin IE
• Yale University US
• King's College London GB
• Hôpital Robert-Debré FR
• Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science US
• University College London GB
• Université de Caen Normandie FR
• University of Toronto CA
• Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin DE
• National Institute of Mental Health US
• University of Pennsylvania US
• Normandie Université FR
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill US
• Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai US
• Weill Cornell Medicine US
• University of Edinburgh GB
• Penn Center for AIDS Research US
• Freie Universität Berlin DE
• Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique FR
• Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital CA
• University of Minnesota US
• Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin DE
• Seoul National University Bundang Hospital KR
• Turku University Hospital FI
• University of Cape Town ZA
• Children's Hospital of Los Angeles US
• Imperial College London GB
• McGill University CA
• Shanghai Institute for Science of Science CN
• Physiopathologie et imagerie des troubles neurologiques
• Cornell University US
• Prostate Cancer Research GB
• Mayo Clinic in Arizona US
• Lifespan US
• The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley US
• Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives FR
• Fudan University CN
• MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit GB
• Boston Children's Hospital US
• Seoul National University KR
• University of Cambridge GB
• Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway IE
• MRC Centre for Reproductive Health GB
• Emory University US
• Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences DE
• Cuban Neuroscience Center CU
• Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile CL
• University of Electronic Science and Technology of China CN
• Wellcome Trust GB
• Wellcome/MRC Institute of Metabolic Science GB
• Lund University SE
• University of Turku FI
• Cyceron FR
• Hospital for Sick Children CA
• Children's Hospital of Philadelphia US
• Inserm FR
• Universidade Federal de São Paulo BR
• Shanghai Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Technology CN
• Douglas Mental Health University Institute CA
• University of California, San Diego US
• Université de Bordeaux FR
• Georgia Institute of Technology US
• Murdoch Children's Research Institute AU
• Queen's University CA
• University of Southern California US
• Tohoku University JP
• National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences IN
• MIND Research Institute US
• Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences SG
• Georgia State University US

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