학술논문

A practitioner's guide to geospatial analysis in a neuroimaging context
Document Type
article
Source
Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, Vol 15, Iss 1, Pp n/a-n/a (2023)
Subject
brain imaging
epidemiologic methods
magnetic resonance imaging
Neurology. Diseases of the nervous system
RC346-429
Geriatrics
RC952-954.6
Language
English
ISSN
2352-8729
Abstract
Abstract Introduction Health disparities arise from biological‐environmental interactions. Neuroimaging cohorts are reaching sufficiently large sample sizes such that analyses could evaluate how the environment affects the brain. We present a practical guide for applying geospatial methods to a neuroimaging cohort. Methods We estimated brain age gap (BAG) from structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from 239 city‐dwelling participants in St. Louis, Missouri. We compared these participants to population‐level estimates from the American Community Survey (ACS). We used geospatial analysis to identify neighborhoods associated with patterns of altered brain structure. We also evaluated the relationship between Area Deprivation Index (ADI) and BAG. Results We identify areas in St. Louis, Missouri that were significantly associated with higher BAG from a spatially representative cohort. We provide replication code. Conclusion We observe a relationship between neighborhoods and brain health, which suggests that neighborhood‐based interventions could be appropriate. We encourage other studies to geocode participant information to evaluate biological‐environmental interaction.