# NCANDA: Data Analysis Resource

> **NIH NIH U24** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $1,111,644

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Excessive alcohol drinking Initiated during adolescence is known to disturb typical neurodevelopmental
patterns, increase the risk of developing alcohol use disorder (AUD), and accelerate involutional processes in
adulthood. In response to RFA-AA-21-009, the Data Analysis Resource (DAR) proposes to support the next 5
years' data collection and analysis across a diverse community sample of male and female participants that
were recruited in 3 age bands between 12 and 21 years old, were mostly no-to-low drinkers, and tracked over
the last 8 years across 5 sites (N=831; 93% retention rate). Monitoring has involved annually-acquired
multimodal neuroimaging (MRI, DTI, resting state fMRI, task fMRI) and cognitive, clinical, behavioral, and
biological data, collected in person or remotely by computer and our mobile app. These measures will now be
complemented with new advanced neuroimaging and sleep and physical activity tracking. This cohort
sequential design uniquely positions NCANDA-A to quantify transient or enduring alcohol-related disturbances
in specific adolescent and early adult neural system growth trajectories and functional concomitants.
NCANDA-A proposes four consortium-wide specific aims and two specialty project aims. In Aim 1, NCANDA-A
will investigate the impact of excessive alcohol drinking during adolescence and emerging adulthood on
subsequent developmental trajectories of cognitive performance, brain structure and function, and
psychopathology. Aim 2 analyses will identify neurodevelopment patterns describing the extent to which
alcohol’s effects on brain structure and function resolve or persist during desistance after binge drinking. Aim 3
will deploy data-driven analysis to identify adolescent biological, environmental, and behavioral factors (e.g.,
age of drinking onset) that forecast excessive drinking during early adulthood. In Aim 4, NCANDA-A will
quantify the impact of the COVID pandemic on life stress and social, emotional, and economic wellbeing and
their relations with alcohol use patterns. For each aim, sex differences in development, alcohol use patterns
and history, impact of alcohol use on the brain, and sex-differentiating psychosocial factors will be tested.
The goal of the DAR is to support hypothesis testing based on five aims. Aim D1 will ensure that procedures
for collection and quality control of neuroimaging, neuropsychological, and clinical assessment data are
standardized. In Aim D2, the DAR will advance the existing informatics infrastructure for integrating data
collected across all sites. Aim D3 will enhance macrostructural, microstructural, and functional neuroimage
processing and analysis. In Aim D4, the DAR will create machine (deep) learning frameworks identifying
predictive markers of early adulthood drinking. Aim D5 will maintain data sharing and distribution systems for
consortium PIs and the scientific public at large.
With the longitudinal data collected into early adulthood durin...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10861844
- **Project number:** 5U24AA021697-13
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Adolf Pfefferbaum
- **Activity code:** U24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $1,111,644
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2012-09-15 → 2027-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10861844

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10861844, NCANDA: Data Analysis Resource (5U24AA021697-13). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10861844. Licensed CC0.

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