Brain ‘age’ was not the greatest predictor of dementia in new study.
How old are your organs? The answer might not match your chronological age — and a new analysis finds that an organ’s biological age might predict a person’s risk of diseases such as cancer, dementia and heart disease.
The research, published in the Lancet Digital Health, analyzed data from Whitehall II, a long-running British study of aging that has followed over 10,000 British adults for more than 35 years. Between 1997 and 1999, the Whitehall study took blood plasma samples from participants when they were 45 to 69 years old.
The organs aged at different rates in different people and even within the body, the researchers write — and those with “fast-aging” organs had an increased risk of 30 of the 45 age-related diseases studied.
Read the full story: Researchers tie health of nine organs to diseases later in life (WaPo)
Biological organ ages predict disease risk decades in advance
Our organs age at different rates, and a blood test determining how much they’ve each aged could predict the risk of conditions like lung cancer and heart disease decades later, finds a new study led by University College London (UCL) researchers.
The findings, published in The Lancet Digital Health, show how accelerated ageing in specific organs can predict not only diseases affecting that organ, but diseases across the rest of the body as well.
Lead author Professor Mika Kivimaki (UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences) said: “Our organs function as an integrated system, but they can age at different rates. Ageing in particular organs can contribute to numerous ageing-related diseases, so it’s important for us to take care of all aspects of our health.
“We found that a quick and easy blood test can identify whether a specific organ is ageing faster than expected. In years to come, blood tests like this could play a crucial role in preventing numerous diseases.
“I believe that in the future of healthcare, the prevention of age-related diseases could begin much earlier, prioritising those who would benefit most and tailoring interventions to individual risk profiles.”
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1074868
Open Paper:
Proteomic organ-specific ageing signatures and 20-year risk of age-related diseases: the Whitehall II observational cohort study
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landig/article/PIIS2589-7500(25)00006-8/fulltext
