Scientists say they can predict how long you will live from a single MRI
This "aging clock" tool could offer a window on your health and your lifespan.
If an algorithm could help you predict your risk of chronic disease and reveal your probable lifetime , would you like to know? A team of researchers from Duke University, Harvard University and the University of Otago in New Zealand suggests that they have created such a tool - and say that for the patient's part, this requires only one brain analysis at the age of 45.
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A new tool can determine the biological age.
Posted on July 1st in the journal Aging of nature , the study of the team presents Dunedinpacni, an algorithm available freely which can assess organic age, a complex measure of health based on functional capacity. This is different from the chronological age, which explains the number of years of a person.
"The way we get older as we age is quite distinct from the number of times we have traveled around the sun," said Ahmad Hariri , PHD, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University via press release . "This is the speed at which your body and your brain age - not just your age."
The “aging clock aging” system of the team is particularly effective in predicting whether an average and neurologically healthy age patient will later continue to develop dementia, even decades in the future. However, it can also predict a range of other age -related diseases long before specific symptoms emerge, which has enabled people to improve their results through lifestyle interventions.
All this is done via a single MRI scanner.
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How does technology work?
Unlike traditional aging clocks based on transversal data of people of different ages, DunedinPacni was formed using longitudinal data of the DUNEDIN study , which has followed more than 1,000 people from birth in New Zealand since the early 1970s.
The algorithm was trained on the analyzes of the participants in Dunedin at 45 years old and linked to 20 years of biological data, including blood pressure changes, kidney function, cholesterol and even oral health. It was then tested on the brain scanners of participants in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Latin America.
In all data sets, the team found that faster aging scores predicted lower performance on cognitive tests, greater hippocampal removal - a key marker for memory loss - and a significantly higher risk of developing dementia.
As part of their analysis, the researchers examined brain scanners from 624 individuals aged 52 to 89 at a North American study of the risk of Alzheimer's disease. They found that those who were identified as aging the fastest were 60% more likely to develop dementia.
Even more alarming, they also determined that those who have a higher biological age were 40% more likely to die in the coming years compared to those who have a lower biological age, offering indices in the life expectations of subjects.
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Can you use the scan?
Hariri recognizes that "drugs cannot resuscitate a dying brain". However, he suggests that with the help of these early alert signs, doctors could intervene against chronic health problems earlier, before significant damage is caused.
Although more work is necessary before the tool is ready for clinical use, Hariri and his colleagues think that the brain -based aging clock will become a vital resource to study and manage age -related diseases and predict the lifespan.
"We really consider that this is, hopeful, being a new key tool in forecasting and forecasting the risk of diseases, in particular Alzheimer's disease and related dementia, and perhaps also taking a better foot on the progression of the disease," said Hariri.
