AIBL
Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle Flagship Study of Ageing
Longitudinal Australian cohort of older adults who are cognitively normal or have MCI or Alzheimer's dementia. The subset with MRI and amyloid PET (PiB, florbetapir, flutemetamol) is shared through the LONI IDA, with demographic, cognitive and blood data.
Overview
AIBL is an observational cohort from Melbourne and Perth that follows older Australians to learn how Alzheimer's disease begins and progresses. It started in November 2006 with 1,112 people aged 60 and over and reassesses them every 18 months with cognitive tests, blood sampling, lifestyle questionnaires and, for a subset, brain MRI and amyloid PET. New participants were added over time to replace those lost to follow-up. Through an agreement with the Alzheimer's Association, the participants who have both MRI and PET are shared through the same LONI archive as ADNI, with their data mapped to the ADNI table structure.
Composition
A 2021 overview counts 2,359 participants: 1,487 cognitively normal, 413 with MCI, 441 with Alzheimer's dementia and 18 with other conditions at their first visit. 954 of them had at least one structural MRI and 2,336 MRI sessions had been acquired. The study website reports 3,045 participants as of February 2023. The LONI release covers only the imaged subset: about a quarter of the cohort up to the 36-month visit, then 250 MR/flutemetamol, 200 MR/florbetapir and 50 MR/PiB cases added at 54 months. Baseline, 18-month and 36-month data are released.
Acquisition
MRI came mainly from Siemens scanners: 3 T Trio and Skyra in Melbourne, 3 T Verio and 1.5 T Avanto in Perth. LONI holds raw DICOM only, and only the ADNI-compliant series: MPRAGE and axial PD/T2 TSE, plus MPRAGE and 3D T2 FLAIR at 54 months. Amyloid PET used PiB, florbetapir and flutemetamol, with PiB frames re-summed to the ADNI 50 to 70 minute window. Demographics, medical history, cognitive scores, APOE and blood results come as CSV tables.
Annotations
There are no image labels in the release, only diagnoses and the ADNI-style clinical tables. Outside the release, Yates et al. (2014) read 3 T susceptibility-weighted images of 174 AIBL participants for microbleeds at three time points.
Known limitations
- Susceptibility-weighted, diffusion and ASL scans were acquired for a subset, but the LONI imaging page does not list them among the shared series.
- Some early baseline scans lacked ADNI-compliant series and are not provided.
- DICOM headers are not reliable for age and sex; the non-imaging tables are.
- The cohort is mostly Caucasian and highly educated.
Cohort
Aggregate numbers from the sources below. Bars are relative to the 2,359 subjects.
Modality
subjects
- MRI 954 40%
Condition
subjects, values can overlap
- Healthy control 1,487 63%
- Alzheimer's disease 441 19%
- Mild cognitive impairment 413 18%
License and access
Our reading of the license, not legal advice. Before you use the data, read the original license and confirm that your use is allowed. We take no responsibility for how you use a dataset. Full disclaimer
A research proposal is reviewed and approved
AIBL Data Use Agreement
Scientific investigation, teaching or clinical study planning only, never commercial use. Data stay within your organisation, proposed analyses must be notified in advance, every abstract and manuscript goes to the AIBL Management Committee before submission, and the data must be destroyed when the agreement ends.
What you can do
- No
- Not stated
- Conditional
- Conditional
What you can share
- No
- Not stated
- Share trained models Not stated
What you must do
- Yes
- Share alike No
- Yes
- Conditional
- Yes
- Release code No
- Conditional
- Yes
Limits
- Yes
- No
Citation
Add "and the Australian Imaging Biomarkers and Lifestyle flagship study of ageing*" to the author line and use the acknowledgement and methods text given in the AIBL Data Use Agreement. Cohort reference: Ellis KA, et al. The Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) study of aging: methodology and baseline characteristics of 1112 individuals recruited for a longitudinal study of Alzheimer's disease. Int Psychogeriatr 21:672-687 (2009). doi:10.1017/S1041610209009405
All numbers
Every number on this page, as stored in stats.csv, with its source.
| Measure | Breakdown | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subjects | total whole AIBL study (Inception cohort 1112 plus Enrichment cohort 1247, as of 10 April 2019); only the subset with MRI and PET is shared through LONI | 2,359 | fowler2021 Introduction |
| Subjects | condition=healthy diagnosis at each participant's baseline; whole study | 1,487 | fowler2021 Table 3 |
| Subjects | condition=mci diagnosis at each participant's baseline; whole study | 413 | fowler2021 Table 3 |
| Subjects | condition=alzheimers diagnosis at each participant's baseline; whole study | 441 | fowler2021 Table 3 |
| Subjects | modality=MR participants with at least one structural MRI; whole study | 954 | fowler2021 Table 10 |
| Studies | modality=MR sum of the eight disjoint columns T0 to T7 (first to eighth MRI of a participant); whole study | 2,336 | fowler2021 Table 10 |
| Mean age | condition=healthy at baseline | 71.1 | fowler2021 Table 3 |
| Mean age | condition=mci at baseline | 73.8 | fowler2021 Table 3 |
| Mean age | condition=alzheimers at baseline | 75.1 | fowler2021 Table 3 |
Sources
The keys used in the table above.
- fowler2021 Fowler C et al. 2021, Fifteen years of the AIBL study, Journal of Alzheimer's Disease Reports paper
- aibl-loni-imaging AIBL data pages for LONI users, imaging data website
- aibl-website AIBL study website, home page website
- ellis2009 Ellis KA et al. 2009, AIBL methodology and baseline characteristics, International Psychogeriatrics paper
- yates2014 Yates PA et al. 2014, Incidence of cerebral microbleeds in preclinical Alzheimer disease, Neurology paper