Poor midlife health leads to advanced brain aging, MRI analysis shows
A new analysis has linked poor cardiovascular health with premature brain aging on MRI exams.
Published in The Lancet Health Longevity, the study found that worse cardiovascular health at the age of 36 was associated with advanced brain aging later in life, more so among men than women. Higher brain-predicted age differences (brain-PAD) were revealed with a combination of an MRI machine learning model and cognitive test scores.
Lead author of the study Jonathan Schott, from the University College London Dementia Research Center and the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, and colleagues believe their findings could be used in the future to better identify people at risk of cognitive decline.
“We found that despite people in this study all being of very similar real ages, there was a very wide variation in how old the computer model predicted their brains to be. We hope this technique could one day be a useful tool for identifying people at risk of accelerated ageing, so that they may be offered early, targeted prevention strategies to improve their brain health,” Schott said.
Researchers included 456 participants with a mean chronological age of 70.7 years old who were enrolled in the UK-funded Insight 46 study. Participants were involved with the study for the duration of their lives, so experts had access to health data, including MRI and amyloid PET scans, that spanned many years. This enabled them to compare their current brain ages to data compiled at different points in their lives.
Though the participants’ actual ages ranged from 69 to 72 years old, the experts’ predictive analysis revealed their estimated current brain ages to be between 46 and 93. Females’ brain-PADs were an average of 5.4 years less than males involved in the study.
An increase in brain-PAD was associated with poor cardiovascular health starting at the age of 36, as well as increased cerebrovascular disease burden. Participants with increased brain-PAD also exhibited lower neurocognitive function.
Dr. Sara Imarisio, who is head of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, commented on the findings and their future implications:
“The Insight 46 study is helping reveal more about the complex relationship between the different factors influencing people’s brain health throughout their life. Using machine learning, researchers in this study have uncovered yet more evidence that poorer heart health in midlife is linked to greater brain shrinkage in later life.”
The detailed research is available here.
In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She joined Innovate Healthcare in 2021 and has since put her unique expertise to use in her editorial role with Health Imaging.