Cortical morphometry and hippocampal microstructure predict aging and Alzheimer’s disease progression.

Morphometric and quantitative MRI metrics have rarely been used simultaneously to characterize healthy aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) progression. Here, cortical vertex-wise and hippocampal voxel-wise metrics were extracted to infer atrophy progression (using cortical thickness, surface area or relative Jacobians), myelin and iron contents (T1 and T2* respectively). A data-driven approach was used to parcellate the cortex and the hippocampus. A multivariate statistical technique was used to link hippocampal and cortical metrics to demographics and cognitive scores of interest. Our results suggest that AD-related neural risk is associated with neurodegeneration and microstructural changes in the cortex and hippocampus, respectively.