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Updated: Feb 20, 2026
Making MR Imaging Child's Play - Pediatric Neuroimaging Protocol, Guidelines and Procedure
Published on: July 30, 2009
Paediatric population neuroimaging and the Generation R Study: the second wave
Tonya White1,2,3, Ryan L Muetzel4,5, Hanan El Marroun4,5
1Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Kp-2869, Postbus 2060, 3000 CB, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. t.white@erasmusmc.nl.
Insights
Paediatric population neuroimaging integrates developmental neuroscience and epidemiology. The Generation R Study successfully embedded neuroimaging within a large birth cohort, yielding valuable data on child brain development.
Area of Science:
- Developmental neuroscience
- Population neuroimaging
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Paediatric population neuroimaging is an emerging field.
- Large-scale, representative recruitment is key for population neuroimaging.
- Embedding neuroimaging within epidemiological cohorts is a successful strategy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide an overview of the imaging protocol used in the Generation R Study.
- To describe the overlap between neuroimaging data and metadata.
- To highlight the potential of merging developmental neuroscience and epidemiology.
Main Methods:
- The Generation R Study is a prospective, population-based birth cohort.
- Neuroimaging included structural MRI, diffusion-weighted imaging, and resting-state fMRI.
- Two waves of neuroimaging scanned children aged 6-9 and 9-11 years.
Main Results:
- The first wave of neuroimaging in the Generation R Study has been completed.
- Data from 1070 children aged 6-9 years were collected.
- The second wave scanned 4087 children aged 9-11 years.
Conclusions:
- Merging developmental neuroscience and epidemiology in population neuroimaging offers diverse research opportunities.
- The Generation R Study provides a rich dataset for investigating child development.
- This approach enables addressing a wide array of research questions in paediatric neuroimaging.
Abstract:
Paediatric population neuroimaging is an emerging field that falls at the intersection between developmental neuroscience and epidemiology. A key feature of population neuroimaging studies involves large-scale recruitment that is representative of the general population. One successful approach for population neuroimaging is to embed neuroimaging studies within large epidemiological cohorts. The Generation R Study is a large, prospective population-based birth-cohort in which nearly 10,000 pregnant mothers were recruited between 2002 and 2006 with repeated measurements in the children and their parents over time. Magnetic resonance imaging was included in 2009 with the scanning of 1070 6-to-9-year-old children. The second neuroimaging wave was initiated in April 2013 with a total of 4245 visiting the MRI suite and 4087 9-to-11-year-old children being scanned. The sequences included high-resolution structural MRI, 35-direction diffusion weighted imaging, and a 6 min and 2 s resting-state functional MRI scan. The goal of this paper is to provide an overview of the imaging protocol and the overlap between the neuroimaging data and metadata. We conclude by providing a brief overview of results from our first wave of neuroimaging, which highlights a diverse array of questions that can be addressed by merging the fields of developmental neuroscience and epidemiology.
