Deaging and harmonization - Cortical Folding in Humans v1.0

Here we will detail the deaging and harmonization procedures used in Cortical Folding Analysis based on structural MRI. We also apply these approaches to more common morphological measurements as Cortical Area and Cortical Thickness.
We also provide a dataset to follow the procedures and test the code.

Deaging is a method we propose for removing the systematic effect of aging on morphological variables. It allows a more direct comparison between different age cohorts. We developed a simple, straightforward tool to combine (or harmonize) all available data and provide valuable insights about cortical folding during the human lifespan. The harmonization procedure helps combine multiple datasets with improving the statistical power, expand the findings to other Samples and studies, and validate the findings of a local Sample to global results.

The deaging and harmonization processes are now integrated and with simple computational implementation. Here, we will describe both procedures and the integrated approach with part of the cross-sectional data from Moraes, in preparation.

Data included in this example are either from open datasets (processed by the authors - AHEAD and AOMIC) or published papers (IXI, ADNI, NKI, and HCP).