Examining population differences in cerebral morphometry between Chinese and Indian undergraduate students

Abstract The aim of this study is to examine potential population differences in brain morphometry using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Thirty-six Chinese and thirty-two Indian undergraduate students are included in this study. All images are processed using BrainLab toolbox to obtain the morphometric values of gray matter volume, cortical thickness, and cortical surface area in each region of interest (ROI). We use ROI-based analysis to investigate ethnic differences using the three types of measurements. Cerebral variations of the brain between Chinese and Indian groups are mostly distributed in the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and occipital lobe. Subgroup analysis reveals sex differences between the two groups. Our study demonstrates population-related differences in brain morphometry (gray matter volume, cortical thickness, and cortical surface area) between Chinese and Indian undergraduates.