Sex Differences in Age-Related Brain Atrophy

Hubbard, B.M.; Anderson, J. M.

doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(83)92397-8

Cited by 19 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…However, despite the differences in reproducibility, the mean infarct volumes as obtained with the 4 multidimensional techniques were virtually similar, suggesting accuracy. For each of the semiautomated methods, the mean values for intracranial volumes were within the normal range of 1100 to 1400 mL, 14 but for unknown reasons the values obtained with the counting grid were substantially smaller than those obtained with the other methods.…”

Section: Van Der Worp Et Al Reproducibility Of Measurements Of Cerebrmentioning

confidence: 79%

Reproducibility of Measurements of Cerebral Infarct Volume on CT Scans

Worp

Claus

Bär

et al. 2001

Stroke

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Background and Purpose-Infarct volume is increasingly used as an outcome measure in clinical trials of therapies for acute ischemic stroke. We tested which of 5 different methods to measure infarct size or volume on CT scans has the highest reproducibility. Methods-Infarct volume and total intracranial volume were measured with Leica Q500 MCP image analysis software, or with a caliper, on 38 CT scans of patients who participated in the Tirilazad Efficacy Stroke Study II (TESS II). The scans were performed 8 days (Ϯ2 days) after the onset of symptoms. The 5 methods tested were based on (1) semiautomated pixel thresholding, (2) manual tracing of the perimeter, (3) a stereological counting grid, (4) measurement of the 3 largest diameters, and (5) the single largest diameter. The measurements were performed independently by 2 observers; the first observer performed all measurements twice. Results-The single largest diameter did not correlate well with infarct volume. Of the other methods, manual tracing of the perimeter of the infarct had the lowest intraobserver and interobserver variability: coefficients of variation were 8.6% and 14.1%, respectively. For total intracranial volume, manual tracing also provided the highest reproducibility: intraobserver and interobserver coefficients of variation were 3.3% and 4.9%, respectively. Conclusions-Manual tracing of the perimeter is the most reproducible method for measuring the volumes of the infarct and the total intracranial space in multicenter trials of therapies for acute ischemic stroke. Key Words: cerebral infarction Ⅲ computer-assisted image processing Ⅲ stroke assessment Ⅲ tomography, x-ray computed I nfarct volume as measured by CT or MRI is increasingly used as a surrogate or auxiliary outcome measure in clinical trials of therapies for acute ischemic stroke. 1-5 Several methods to measure infarct volume on CT scans have been developed, of which manual tracing of the infarct perimeter 6 is the most well established. Other methods are based on pixel thresholding, 7,8 a stereological counting grid, 9 or measurement of the 3 largest diameters. 10 The single largest visible diameter has also been used as a measure for infarct size. 11 If a method for measuring infarct volume is applied in (multicenter) trials, it should be characterized by good reproducibility, even when performed on hard copies of scans of different quality, calibration, and density scale parameters. Although fair interrater reliabilities for some of the techniques have been reported before, 9,10 the present study is the first to compare the reproducibility of the 5 different methods.The aim of the present study was to determine which of the aforementioned methods to measure infarct volume has the highest reproducibility. To express infarct volume as a percentage of the total intracranial volume (ICV), we also compared the intraobserver and interobserver variability of this measure obtained with each of the different methods. Subjects and MethodsMeasurements were performed by 2 of the authors (H....

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Section: Van Der Worp Et Al Reproducibility Of Measurements Of Cerebrmentioning

confidence: 79%

Reproducibility of Measurements of Cerebral Infarct Volume on CT Scans

Worp

Claus

Bär

et al. 2001

Stroke

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“…It is unclear why the midsagittal area of the cerebral cortex was the only parameter of those measured that exhibited significant differences in regression slopes between women and men. However, several studies report that a decrease in brain volume occurs earlier in women than in men (Hatazawa et al, 1982;Hubbard and Anderson, 1983). Furthermore, in Alzheimer's disease, there is both improvement of cognitive function in some women who are treated with estrogen (Fillit et al, 1986) and a significant loss of large neurons in the midfrontal cortex in women but not men (Terry et al, 1981).…”

Section: Methodological Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several structural sexual dimorphisms suggest that there may be a morphological basis for these functional differences. Moreover, possible gender differences in cognitive decline with age could correspond with age-related sex differences in decreases in brain size (Hatazawa et al, 1982;Hubbard and Anderson, 1983). In men, just as there appears to be greater functional asymmetry, there is greater morphological brain asymmetry in the temporal planum (Wada et al, 1975).…”

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confidence: 99%

Sex differences in the corpus callosum of the living human being

et al. 1991

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The sexual dimorphism of the corpus callosum has remained controversial since the original report by de Lacoste-Utamsing and Holloway in 1982, for several reasons: (1) measurements have been performed in a variety of ways in different laboratories, in part because published reports frequently do not describe the methodology in detail; (2) despite known age-related changes during both childhood and adulthood, no investigators have explicitly age-matched subjects; and (3) the size and shape of corpora callosa vary considerably among individuals, requiring large sample sizes to demonstrate significant sex differences. Therefore, we have examined magnetic resonance images for 24 age-matched children and 122 age-matched adults for possible sex differences in the corpus callosum. While we observed a dramatic sex difference in the shape of the corpus callosum, there was no conclusive evidence of sexual dimorphism in the area of the corpus callosum or its subdivisions. Utilizing several criteria, there were significant sex differences in shape: subjective evaluation indicated that the posterior region of the corpus callosum, the splenium, was more bulbous shaped in females as a group and in women, and more tubular-shaped in males as a group and in men; mathematical evaluation confirmed this observation in that the maximum width of the splenium was significantly greater in women than in men, and that the percentage by which the average width of the splenium was greater than that of the adjacent corpus callosum was significantly greater in females than in males. However, sex differences in bulbosity did not reach significance in children (aged 2–16 yr). In contrast, among the area measurements of the corpus callosum and 22 subdivisions, only 1 exhibited a significant sex difference, which would be expected by chance. The area of the corpora callosa increased significantly with age in children and decreased significantly with age in adults. In adults, the midsagittal surface area of the cerebral cortex decreased significantly with age in women but not in men. These anatomical sex differences could, in part, underlie gender-related differences in behavior and neuropsychological function.

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“…Brain weight begins to substantially decline in the 5 th to 7 th decade of life [26]. Several studies have estimated the rate of annual parenchymal decline, finding rates that range from 0.23% [7] to 0.4% per year [15].…”

Section: Agementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, atrophy may begin earlier in males [7]. There have, however, been several exceptions [2,7,16,26,28,33,49,50]. Two studies reported that in males, the age-related decline in caudate volumes was significantly greater for the left caudate, but for females the rate of decline was steeper (although not by as much) for the right caudate [20,38].…”

Section: 34mentioning

confidence: 99%

Aging, gender, and the elderly adult brain: An examination of analytical strategies

Greenberg¹,

Messer²,

Payne³

et al. 2008

Neurobiology of Aging

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We sought to examine the relations between age, gender and brain volumes in an elderly population; we also sought to examine ways of measuring these relations. Three sets of analyses were used: correlational analyses, in which correlations between independent variables and brain volumes were calculated without correction for intracranial volume (ICV); covariational analyses, in which ICV was used as a covariate in regression equations; and ratio analyses, in which the dependent variable was the ratio of brain volume to ICV. These analyses yielded similar results, except that (as expected) adjusting for ICV altered estimates of gender differences. Analyses of age showed decreases in left caudate, putamen, and right hippocampus and an increase in CSF, a result generally in accord with previous findings. However, we also found a significant decrease of white-matter volumes and no significant decrease in total gray-matter volumes. Correlational analyses showed that men did not always have larger volumes despite their larger head size; women generally had larger volumes after adjusting for ICV. We found no age-gender interactions.

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Sex Differences in Age-Related Brain Atrophy

Cited by 19 publications

References 11 publications

Reproducibility of Measurements of Cerebral Infarct Volume on CT Scans

Reproducibility of Measurements of Cerebral Infarct Volume on CT Scans

Sex differences in the corpus callosum of the living human being

Aging, gender, and the elderly adult brain: An examination of analytical strategies

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