Shared dataset tracks adult brain aging from midlife
A longitudinal observational study assembled brain scans and health data from 348 adults aged 38–71 at baseline; 219 completed three annual assessment rounds.
Limit: Pandemic disruption left substantial gaps at the fourth assessment
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
A longitudinal observational study included 348 community-recruited adults aged 38 to 71 at baseline, of whom 248 were female. Researchers at the Nathan Kline Institute collected brain scans, tests of thinking and memory, behavioral and medical assessments, fitness measurements and biological samples. They designed the dataset to study differences in brain aging and examine factors such as sleep, mood and heart and lung fitness. Repeated measurements extended up to four years, with 219 participants completing three annual assessment rounds.
Other researchers can access the dataset. Brain images and limited participant information are openly downloadable. Access to detailed health and behavioral data requires a data-use agreement and institutional approval. The protocol aligns with earlier studies from the same research program to support research across a broader span of life.
Why it matters
Midlife remains underrepresented in open brain-imaging resources. These data can support questions about how modifiable factors linked to dementia prevention relate to different paths of cognitive and brain aging.
Caveats
This paper describes an observational resource, not evidence that changing fitness, sleep or mood changes brain aging; pandemic disruption left substantial gaps at the fourth assessment. People who expressed concern about memory impairment were not enrolled, and indications of possible dementia at baseline triggered exclusion.
The paper
A longitudinal resource for mapping interindividual variation in the aging connectome
Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research
Scientific Data, Jul 30, 2026, Open access
