Sexually dimorphic interactive effects of age and hypertension on subcortical volumes and asymmetries in normal adult brains

Motivation: Brain shrinkage does not happen to all areas uniformly and could be sex dependent. Goal(s): We aimed to assess cross-sectionally the interactive effects of age and hypertension on the subcortical volumes and asymmetries in normal adult brains. Approach: Brain structural images were acquired in 147 normal volunteers at a 3T scanner. Results: All volumes demonstrated negative correlation with age but only the thalamic volume in both sexes, and the putamen volume in women reached the threshold of statistical significance of P=0.007. The thalamic asymmetry was the only measure that showed positive correlation to hypertension in women. Impact: Among seven subcortical structures examined, the thalamic volume demonstrated a negative association with age in normal adult brains. Further research is needed to correlate this finding with cognition.