A brain MRI estimate of whole‐body aging in midlife predicts late life risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
Abstract
Aging is the strongest risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Accordingly, identifying biomarkers of accelerated aging is a major focus of AD prevention research. Current MRI‐based “aging clocks” (i.e., brain age) derive from cross‐sectional associations with chronological age. However, chronological age differs fundamentally from biological aging. We introduce a novel brain MRI proxy for biological aging in midlife developed in the Dunedin Study, a population‐representative longitudinal birth cohort, and demonstrate its ability to differentiate and predict AD in the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI).
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Research summary
The paper introduces a novel brain MRI proxy for biological aging, which is relevant to understanding the mechanisms of aging and its implications for Alzheimer's disease. While it provides solid research and contributes to the field of aging biomarkers, it does not fundamentally address the root causes of aging or propose interventions for lifespan extension. Thus, its impact is limited but still noteworthy.
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