A Two-Stage Multi-Modal MRI Framework for Lifespan Brain Age Prediction

arXiv:2604.16655v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: The accurate quantification of brain age from MRI has emerged as an important biomarker of brain health. However, existing approaches are often restricted to narrow age ranges and single-modality MRI data, limiting their capacity to capture the coordinated macro- and microstructural changes that unfold across the human lifespan. To address these limitations, we developed a multi-modal brain age framework to characterize the integrated evolution of brain morphology and white matter organization. Our model adopts a two-stage architecture, where modalities are processed independently and integrated via late fusion in both stages: first to classify each subject into one of six developmental stages, and then to estimate age within the predicted stage. This design enables a unified and lifespan-spanning assessment of brain maturity across diverse developmental periods.