The normalizing properties of intracranial volume across race and sex
Peirong Liu1,2, Dina Zemlyanker1, Karthik Gopinath1
1Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA.
Abstract:
In volumetric analysis of the human brain with MRI, intracranial volume is an important covariate as it has a strong correlation with the volume of regions of interest in the brain. Therefore, accurate adjustment for intracranial volume (e.g. by division) is essential to mitigate the impact of head size on brain measurements. In this study, we assess the effects of intracranial volume normalization on differences across sex and racial groups, using a diverse cohort with 5977 subjects from three different (self-reported) races. We show that (i) differences in intracranial volume across sex are consistent across race and vice versa; and (ii) intracranial volume normalization almost completely accounts for differences by race and sex. These results suggest that subjects of different sexes and races can be safely aggregated in volumetric studies by normalizing the volume of regions of interest to intracranial volume.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Applications of Normal Distribution
The heights of 15 to 18-year-old males from Chile from 1984 to 1985 followed a normal distribution. The mean height is 172.36...
The Bell Curve
This pattern applies to many human characteristics beyond intelligence, such as height. For example, if you...
Introduction to Normal Distributions
Increased Intracranial Pressure l: Introduction
Increased Intracranial Pressure ll: Pathophysiology
Cerebral Edema l: Introduction


