ASPREE-NEURO
ASPREE-NEURO, the brain MRI sub-study of the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly trial
Longitudinal 3 T brain MRI (T1w, FLAIR, SWI, diffusion, ASL, resting-state fMRI) of 559 healthy Australians aged 70 and over in a randomised aspirin trial, scanned at baseline, 1 and 3 years to track microbleeds and white matter lesions. Access by ASPREE application.
Overview
ASPREE-NEURO is the brain imaging sub-study of ASPREE, a placebo-controlled trial of 100 mg daily aspirin in older adults without occlusive vascular disease, atrial fibrillation, cognitive impairment or disability. The sub-study asked whether aspirin changes the number of cerebral microbleeds over three years, with white matter hyperintensity volume, cognition and stroke as secondary outcomes. It is not a download: researchers apply through the ASPREE Access Management System, contact the sub-study chief investigator first, and need approval from the ASPREE International Executive Committee and the sub-study principal investigator.
Composition
559 participants aged 70 or over, recruited from people joining ASPREE at the Melbourne study centres between December 2013 and December 2014. Each was to be scanned at enrolment before starting the study tablets, one year later and three years later. Participants were randomised 1:1 to aspirin or placebo. The protocol paper does not report the sex or age distribution of the imaged group, and no count of completed follow-up scans is published.
Acquisition
All scans ran on one 3 T Siemens Skyra at Monash Biomedical Imaging in Clayton, Melbourne. The 38-minute protocol includes T1w MPRAGE, FLAIR, susceptibility weighted imaging, diffusion imaging, resting-state fMRI, multiple inversion ASL and a gradient echo field map. A quantitative susceptibility map was planned from the SWI data to separate microbleeds from calcifications. Sequence parameters are in the protocol paper's supplement.
Annotations
Microbleeds are rated with the Microbleed Anatomical Rating Scale (count and location), blind to treatment. A neuroradiologist reports every scan. Low et al. (2026) segmented microbleeds in 78 scans of 26 participants for the MedNet-CMB model; those masks are not published.
Known limitations
- No public download and no published release of the MRI data; terms of the memorandum of understanding are not public.
- Single scanner and single site.
- A healthy community population; Low et al. (2026) describe the scans they used as a low microbleed count set.
Cohort
Aggregate numbers from the sources below. Bars are relative to the 559 subjects.
Scanner vendor
subjects
- Siemens Healthineers 559 100%
Field strength
subjects
- 3 T 559 100%
Country
subjects
- Australia 559 100%
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
ASPREE Data Use Policy
ASPREE data go only to project proposals approved by the ASPREE International Executive Committee, with ethics approval and a signed memorandum of understanding; sub-study data also need the sub-study principal investigator's approval. Data stay in the ASPREE Safe Haven by default, and draft manuscripts are reviewed by the committee.
Requests go through the ASPREE Access Management System. For sub-study data such as ASPREE-NEURO the applicant contacts the sub-study chief investigator first, and the sub-study principal investigator must approve. The text of the memorandum of understanding signed before access is not published.
What you can do
- Not stated
- Not stated
- Not stated
- Conditional
What you can share
- No
- Not stated
- Share trained models Not stated
What you must do
- Not stated
- Share alike No
- Yes
- Yes
- Yes
- Release code No
- Return results No
- Delete after use No
Limits
- No
- No
Citation
Ward SA, Raniga P, Ferris NJ, et al. ASPREE-NEURO study protocol: A randomized controlled trial to determine the effect of low-dose aspirin on cerebral microbleeds, white matter hyperintensities, cognition, and stroke in the healthy elderly. Int J Stroke 12(1), 108-113 (2017). doi:10.1177/1747493016669848
All numbers
Every number on this page, as stored in stats.csv, with its source.
| Measure | Breakdown | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subjects | total final recruitment; MRI at baseline and 1 and 3 years after randomisation | 559 | ward2017 Sample size |
| Subjects | country=AU recruited at Melbourne ASPREE study centres | 559 | ward2017 Methods (Participants) |
| Subjects | field_strength=3 all scans on one 3 T Siemens Skyra | 559 | ward2017 Brain MRI |
| Subjects | vendor=siemens Skyra | 559 | ward2017 Brain MRI |
Sources
The keys used in the table above.
- ward2017 Ward et al. 2017, International Journal of Stroke (ASPREE-NEURO protocol, PMC6764436) paper
- aspree-substudies-page ASPREE Australia website, sub-studies page (ASPREE NEURO section) website
- low2026 Low et al. 2026, medRxiv (MedNet-CMB), uses ASPREE-NEURO scans for training paper