Accurate knowledge of adult human brain volume (BV) is critical for studies of aging- and disease-related brain alterations, and for monitoring the trajectories of neural and cognitive functions in conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and traumatic brain injury. This scoping meta-analysis aggregates normative reference values for BV and three related volumetrics—gray matter volume (GMV), white matter volume (WMV) and cerebrospinal fluid volume (CSFV)—from typically-aging adults studied cross-sectionally using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Drawing from an aggregate sample of 9473 adults, this study provides (A) regression coefficients β describing the age-dependent trajectories of volumetric measures by sex within the range from 20 to 70 years based on both linear and quadratic models, and (B) average values for BV, GMV, WMV and CSFV at the representative ages of 20 (young age), 45 (middle age) and 70 (old age). The results provided synthesize ~20 years of brain volumetrics research and allow one to estimate BV at any age between 20 and 70. Importantly, however, such estimates should be used and interpreted with caution because they depend on MRI hardware specifications (e.g. scanner manufacturer, magnetic field strength), data acquisition parameters (e.g. spatial resolution, weighting), and brain segmentation algorithms. Guidelines are proposed to facilitate future meta- and mega-analyses of brain volumetrics.

成人脑容量 (BV) 的准确知识对于研究与衰老和疾病相关的大脑变化以及监测阿尔茨海默病和创伤性脑损伤等疾病中神经和认知功能的轨迹至关重要。这项范围界定的荟萃分析汇总了 BV 和三个相关体积的规范参考值——灰质体积 (GMV)、白质体积 (WMV) 和脑脊液体积 (CSFV)——来自使用磁共振成像横断面研究的典型老龄成年人（核磁共振）。从 9473 名成年人的总样本中提取，本研究提供 (A) 回归系数β基于线性和二次模型，描述 20 至 70 岁范围内按性别划分的体积测量的年龄依赖性轨迹，以及 (B) 20 岁（年轻）代表性年龄的 BV、GMV、WMV 和 CSFV 平均值)、45（中年）和 70（老年）。提供的结果综合了约 20 年的脑容量研究，并允许人们估计 20 至 70 岁之间的任何年龄的 BV。然而，重要的是，应谨慎使用和解释此类估计，因为它们取决于 MRI 硬件规格（例如扫描仪制造商，磁场强度）、数据采集参数（例如空间分辨率、加权）和大脑分割算法。提出了指导方针，以促进未来对脑容量的荟萃分析和大型分析。