New Tool Measures Biological Aging

While aging is unavoidable, the diseases that often accompany it don’t have to be.

Researchers have developed a pioneering tool that assesses the speed of aging and can forecast the likelihood of chronic conditions, including dementia, using just one MRI of the brain.

This proactive approach allows individuals the chance to make healthier lifestyle adjustments while they’re still in good shape, potentially staving off future health issues.

Inspired by collaborators from institutions like Duke University, Harvard, and the University of Otago in New Zealand, this tool springs from the Dunedin Study—a comprehensive health project spanning decades and over a thousand participants born in the early 1970s in New Zealand.

Since their birth, participants have undergone regular assessments, including blood tests and various physical checks, allowing researchers to track changes in health over time.

Using this extensive data, the researchers calculated how quickly participants were aging biologically—not simply by calendar age but by evaluating the physical stress on their bodies.

A tool named Dunedinpace-Ni was created to predict biological age based solely on a brain MRI obtained when participants were 45 years old.

They then tested this tool on brain scan data from individuals across the US, UK, Canada, and Latin America.

The findings showed that those with higher biological aging scores tended to perform poorly on cognitive assessments and displayed quicker reductions in hippocampal volume, crucial for memory and learning.

One particularly striking analysis revealed that individuals identified by the tool as aging fastest had a 60% increased risk of developing dementia compared to their slower-aging peers, showing cognitive decline earlier as well.

Upon seeing the results, Ahmad Hariri, a professor at Duke, expressed astonishment, “Our jaws just dropped.” He emphasized how this approach leverages middle-aged data to better understand aging dynamics, especially related to dementia.

However, cognitive decline wasn’t the only concern flagged by the tool; higher Dunedinpace-NI scores were also linked to greater incidence of issues like frailty, heart disease, strokes, lung problems, and other persistent illnesses.

Remarkably, those with higher aging metrics were found to be 40% more likely to pass away within a few years compared to those who were aging at a slower rate.

What’s encouraging is that the tool appears to be accurate across various demographics, including race and income levels.

“It captures what’s real in every brain,” Hariri noted.

A Timely Development

This innovative tool arrives as global lifespans increase, with projections indicating that by 2050, nearly a quarter of the world’s population will be over the age of 65, according to the World Health Organization.

Though longer lifespans are often celebrated, they come with an uptick in chronic conditions such as dementia.

Hariri pointed out a troubling fact: “Unfortunately, more and more people are facing age-related diseases.”

Research forecasts that the number of individuals living with dementia globally will soar to 152.8 million over the next 25 years, up from 57.4 million in 2019.

Yet, effective treatments for conditions like Alzheimer’s remain elusive. Most available medications only manage symptoms and don’t stop the progression of the diseases.

Hariri suggests one reason behind this limitation is that, by the time treatment begins, significant brain damage may have already occurred. “Drugs can’t bring back a dying brain,” he remarked.

However, the new research tool offers hope, possibly enabling earlier interventions for those at risk of Alzheimer’s before extensive brain harm takes place.

Beyond predicting the risk of dementia, it could help elucidate why individuals with certain risk factors, such as poor sleep or mental health challenges, exhibit varied aging patterns, noted Ethan Whitman, a clinical psychology PhD candidate at Duke.

Still, he underscored that more work is required to transform Dunedinpace-NI into a practical resource for everyday healthcare settings.

In the meantime, the research team aims to utilize this tool to leverage existing brain MRI data to evaluate aging in ways that traditional biomarker approaches, like blood tests, cannot.

Hariri expressed optimism about the potential impact: “We hope it serves as a vital new instrument for forecasting disease risk, especially Alzheimer’s and related dementias, while gaining insights into disease progression.”