Table 4 Studies investigating the association between positive and negative environmental and lifestyle factors
From: Factors associated with brain ageing - a systematic review
Reference | Study (Design, country) | n, Mean age ± SD (Range), Sex, Other information | Modality (Protocol) | Features | Model (Cross-validation) | Exposure | Main findings | Adjustments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
[35] | Military serving male twin pairs from VETSA MRI cohort (US) | n = 359, 61.8 ± 2.6 (56.5–65.6)yrs.; ~ 5 yr FU | MRI (T1[3T]) | CT, SA & subcortical volume | SVR | Negative midlife FLE | GAP + 2.3 yrs. (~ −21.1 to 14.8 yrs). ↑ Total FLE (β = 0.14, p = 0.01). Minus extreme outliers, ↑ relationship FLEs (β = 0.11, p = 0.03). NS with financial (β = 0.06) or health FLEs (β = 0.05) | bAge, scanner, relatedness, cardiovascular risk, alcohol, SES, ethnicity |
[60] | Community dwelling adults from 1 of 6 studies (US) | n = 185, 64.9 ± 8.3 yrs., 91♀ | MRI (T1[3T]) | Voxel-wise WB volume | RVR | Smoking & alcohol | ↑ BrainAGE with smoking (r = 0.20, p = 0.008) & alcohol (r = 0.24, p = 0.001) | bAge, gender, diabetes duration |
[53] | UK Biobank | n = 19,000, 10,112♀; Age unknown | MRI (T1, rfMRI, tfMRI, T2 FLAIR, dMRI, swMRI [3 T]) | IDP | Non-LR [10-fold] | Smoking; alcohol; time outdoors; cSES | GAP correlated with smoking (r ~ 0.07 to 0.08; all -log10P > 8). Correlation with alcohol also observed in ♀ (both r = 0.07; −log10P > 8). Correlation with SES also observed in ♂ (r ~ −  0.05 to − 0.04; all -log10P > 8) | aAge, age2, gender |
[54] | UK Biobank | n = 14,701, 62.6 ± 7.5 yrs., 7914♀ | MRI (T1, rfMRI, tfMRI, T2 FLAIR, dMRI, swMRI [3 T]) | IDP | LASSO [10-fold] | Smoking & alcohol | GAP associated with smoking (B = 0.879) & alcohol (B = -0.997; both p < 0.001) | abAge; bage2, gender, height, volumetric scaling, & tfMRI head motion |
[42] | Meditation practitioners from greater Los Angeles; matched controls from ICBM (US) | Meditators: n = 50, 51.4 ± 12.8 yrs., 22♀; HC: n = 50, 51.4 ± 11.8 yrs., 22♀ | MRI (T1[1.5 T]) | Voxel-wise GM volume | RVR | Meditation | BrainAGE associated with meditation (β = −7.53, p = 0.047). For every yr > 50 yrs., meditators were 1mth & 22 days younger (β = − 0.14, p = 0.045) | bAge, gender, handedness, group |
[64] | Manhattan or New Jersey community dwelling adults attending of 1 of 3 independent studies (US) | n = 331, 19-79 yrs., 182♀ | MRI (T1[3T]) | Cortical & subcortical GM volume | SSM [Bootstrapping (×1000)] | Education & physical activity (FOSC) | CA-BA associated with ↑ education (β = 0.95), & FOSC (β = 0.58; both p = 0.005) | aTICV, study, gender; beducation, different exercises |
[29] | Adults differing in musician status (Case-control, location unclear) | Professionals: n = 42, 24.3 ± 3.9 (18–39) yrs., 22♀; Amateurs: n = 45, 24.3 ± 3.9 (17–34) yrs., 18♀; Non-musicians: n = 38, 25.2 ± 4.8 (17–39) yrs., 15♀ | MRI (T1[1.5 T]) | Voxel-wise GM volume | RVR | Musician status & years of music | Musicians brainAGE 4.12 yrs. ↓ than non-musicians (p = 0.004). Professionals (−3.70 yrs) ↓ than non-musicians (− 0.48 yrs., p = 0.014). Amateurs comparable to non-musicians (NS). ↑ music making for professionals only (r = 0.32, p = 0.04) | aNon-musician median brainAGE |