Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring (Jan 2023)

A practitioner's guide to geospatial analysis in a neuroimaging context

  • Julie K. Wisch,
  • Ganesh M Babulal,
  • Kalen Petersen,
  • Peter R. Millar,
  • Enbal Shacham,
  • Stephen Scroggins,
  • Anna H. Boerwinkle,
  • Shaney Flores,
  • Sarah Keefe,
  • Brian A. Gordon,
  • John C. Morris,
  • Beau M. Ances

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/dad2.12413
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 1
pp. n/a – n/a

Abstract

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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.

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