Introducing rrAD420, an anatomical template and multi‐modal atlas for older adults

Risk Reduction for Alzheimer’s Disease (rrAD) is a recently completed randomized controlled trial assessing the effects of aerobic exercise training and pharmacological cardio‐vascular interventions on neurocognitive function in hypertensive older adults with a family history of dementia or subjective cognitive decline. The comprehensive neuroimaging protocol included anatomical, functional, and physiological MRI scans, obtained at baseline and after two years of intervention. 420 older subjects (68.8±5.9 years) were scanned on five different 3T MRI scanners (two Siemens, two GE, and one Philips). Brain atrophy and ventricular enlargement are common in this elderly study population, leading to substantial deviations from the standard MNI152 template (25.02±4.9 years). Severe artifacts might occur when transforming non‐normative brains into MNI standard space. Using the high‐quality baseline data of this study, we aim to integrate images from multiple modalities to create a reference that is better suited to investigate older populations.