PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - D. Vidal-Piñeiro
AU  - Y. Wang
AU  - SK. Krogsrud
AU  - IK. Amlien
AU  - WFC. Baaré
AU  - D. Bartrés-Faz
AU  - L. Bertram
AU  - A.M. Brandmaier, Dr
AU  - CA. Drevon
AU  - S. Düzel
AU  - KP. Ebmeier
AU  - RN Henson
AU  - C. Junque
AU  - RA Kievit
AU  - S. Kühn
AU  - E. Leonardsen
AU  - U. Lindenberger
AU  - KS. Madsen
AU  - F. Magnussen
AU  - AM. Mowinckel
AU  - L. Nyberg
AU  - JM. Roe
AU  - B. Segura
AU  - Ø. Sørensen
AU  - S. Suri
AU  - E. Zsoldos
AU  - the Australian Imaging Biomarkers and Lifestyle flagship study of ageing
AU  - KB. Walhovd
AU  - AM. Fjell
TI  - “Brain age” relates to early life factors but not to accelerated brain aging
AID  - 10.1101/2021.02.08.428915
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.02.08.428915
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/02/08/2021.02.08.428915.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/02/08/2021.02.08.428915.full
AB  - Brain age is an influential index for quantifying brain health, assumed partially to reflect the rate of brain aging. We explicitly tested this assumption in two large datasets and found no association between cross-sectional brain age and steeper brain decline. Rather, brain age in adulthood was associated with early-life influences indexed by birth weight and polygenic scores. The results call for nuanced interpretations of cross-sectional indices of the aging brain.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.