MCSA
Mayo Clinic Study of Aging (MCSA) shared data
Brain MRI, diffusion MRI, PET and longitudinal clinical data of residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota, from a population-based study of cognitive aging, mild cognitive impairment and dementia, shared de-identified and defaced on the LONI Image and Data Archive.
Overview
The Mayo Clinic Study of Aging (MCSA) is a longitudinal, population-based cohort of residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota. It was set up to measure how common mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is, how often it develops and how often it progresses to dementia or Alzheimer's disease, and to find risk factors along the way. The study shares a curated, de-identified subset of its imaging and clinical data through the LONI Image and Data Archive (IDA). Richer clinical, biomarker or imaging data and specimens need a separate request to the MCSA executive committee.
Composition
The IDA study record lists 2,122 participants aged 30 to 89, all with MRI. Diffusion MRI is listed for 1,960 and PET for 2,096 of them; the record does not name the PET tracer.
The first phase of the public release, described in a 2024 conference abstract, held clinical data of 5,925 participants aged 30 to 90 with 1 to 12 visits about 15 months apart, and three MRI sequences (T1w, FLAIR and diffusion) of 1,802 participants. Clinical data cover demographics, APOE4 status, cognitive status (normal, MCI, dementia or other), neuropsychological scores, imaging summary measures, medications, cardiovascular risk factors, sleep, mood and function. Amyloid PET was first shared only as global PiB SUVR and Centiloid values, with defaced PET images announced for later.
Acquisition
For the first imaging release, the study took the first timepoint acquired on a 3 T GE scanner with a PiB PET scan at the same visit, from participants aged 50 to 90. Sequences are 3D T1w MPRAGE (1 x 1 x 1.2 mm), FLAIR (0.85 x 0.85 x 3.6 mm) and diffusion MRI (2.7 mm, 41 directions at b=1000 plus 5 b=0). Images are DICOM, de-identified with CTP, and T1w and FLAIR are defaced with mri_reface 0.3.3 and checked visually.
Annotations
No manual image labels are described. The clinical tables include diagnoses and imaging summary measures.
Known limitations
- A single county in Minnesota, so the cohort reflects that population.
- The counts on the IDA are larger than those in the 2024 abstract, and what was added since (more visits, PET images, other scanners) is not documented publicly.
- Whether the imaging on the IDA is still limited to 3 T GE scanners is not stated.
Cohort
Aggregate numbers from the sources below. Bars are relative to the 2,122 subjects.
Age
range 30 to 89
No age bins reported.
From LONI IDA study record for MCSA (subjects, cohort, modalities and ages)
Contrast / sequence
Groups can overlap
- Diffusion-weighted 1,960 92%
From LONI IDA study record for MCSA (subjects, cohort, modalities and ages)
Modality
- MRI 2,122 100%
- PET 2,096 99%
From LONI IDA study record for MCSA (subjects, cohort, modalities and ages)
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
Mayo Clinic Study of Aging (MCSA) Data Use Agreement
Online agreement for the de-identified MCSA data on the LONI IDA. Commercial use is excluded unless MCSA agrees separately, the data stay within the recipient's analysis team, and re-identification, including face recognition, is forbidden. Publications must name the MCSA as group author, carry fixed statements and be sent to MCSA for an acknowledgement check before submission.
What you can do
- No
- Not stated
- Not stated
- Conditional
- Conditional
What you can share
- No
- Not stated
- Not stated
What you must do
- Yes
- Share alike No
- Yes
- Conditional
- Yes
- Release code No
- No
- Delete after use No
Limits
- Yes
- Location limits No
Commercial license: Conditional No commercial license is published, but the agreement says commercial applications can be requested by email and considered separately.
Citation
Schwarz CG, Kremers WK, Prakaashana CM, Przybelski SA, Christenson LR, Wiliams JM, Gunter JL, Senjem ML, Arani A, Reid RI, Machulda MM, Fields JA, Lowe VJ, Kantarci K, Graff-Radford J, Vemuri P, Petersen RC, Knopman DS, Jack CR Jr. A Large Public Release of Clinical and Imaging Data from the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. Alzheimer's & Dementia 20(Suppl 9):e093966 (2024). doi:10.1002/alz.093966
Sources
Every number on this page comes from one of these documents. Each chart names the table or page it is taken from. The raw numbers are in stats.csv.