Your organs are aging at different rates: New blood tests predict the risk of disease decades ahead of schedule

UCL study reveals how accelerated aging of specific organs predicts future health problems for the entire body

Over the next two decades, the heart was biologically 50% higher than those older than those who were actually older. People with premature lung cancer are more likely to develop lung cancer. Surprisingly, the strongest predictor of future dementia is not the aging brain, but the aging immune system.

These revelations come from a groundbreaking 20-year study published in the Lancet Digital Health, which tracks over 6,200 middle-aged British adults, providing information on how our organs are ageing at different rates and how these changes are predicted New insights into future disease risks. This study, led by scientists at University College London, could fundamentally change the way we use preventive medicine.

“Our organs are an integrated system, but they can age at different rates,” explained Mika Kivimaki, chief author of the Bishop’s School of Brain Science. “Aging organs, especially, can contribute to a variety of age-related diseases, so it is important to all aspects of our health.”

The window into the future of biology

In the late 1990s, researchers collected blood samples from participants in the Whitehall II study in the UK, a long-running health research project that began in 1985. Using advanced proteomic analysis, the technique measures thousands of proteins in a single blood sample, which determines the biological age of nine organs: the heart, blood vessels, liver, immune system, pancreas, kidneys, lungs, intestines, and brain.

For each person, they calculated the gap between age in chronological order (actual yearly life) and biological age (the age at which each organ appears based on specific markers of aging). These “organ age gaps” vary greatly within individuals, confirming that our organs are not synchronized.

The researchers then tracked the participants’ health for twenty years through the national health registry. By the end of the study, accelerated organ aging has predicted 30 different diseases, often predicting problems before symptoms.

Beyond organ-specific diseases

Although some findings are consistent with intuitive expectations (prone to aging hearts predict cardiovascular disease and predict respiratory conditions in older lungs – other connections cross organ boundaries in surprising ways.

Research has found that kidney health is particularly connected to other organs. People who accelerate kidney aging are more likely to develop vascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and liver disease. In contrast, biological aging in almost all organs predicts an increased risk of kidney disease.

Among the most unexpected findings of the study, accelerated aging of the immune system (not brain aging) became the strongest predictor of dementia in the future. This supports a growing body of evidence that inflammatory processes may play a crucial role in neurodegenerative diseases.

“The results suggest that faster aging of the immune system, rather than the brain, may better predict future risks of dementia,” the researchers noted. This coincides with previous studies, tying severe infections with higher dementia in later life,” the researchers said. symptom risks are linked.

From one disease to many

The study also shows that people with rapidly aging organs are particularly prone to developing multiple age-related diseases in different organ systems, which are known as multiple diseases.

According to the researchers, this pattern makes sense. Our organs act as integrated systems, so accelerated aging in one organ can damage the function of others, thus creating a cascade effect throughout the body.

For example, a standard deviation with an arterial age difference is higher than average, with a 103% increase in the risk of having two or more diseases in different organs. Similarly, increased kidney age differences increase the risk of multi-organ disease by 78%, and accelerated heart aging by 52%.

A new era of preventive medicine

The impact on healthcare can be far-reaching. Doctors may one day use blood tests to determine which organs age too quickly and intervene before problems develop.

Professor Kivimaki said: “I believe that in the future of healthcare, preventing age-related diseases may begin earlier, prioritizing those who will benefit the most, and tailoring interventions to personal risk profiles.”

These insights can be obtained from simple blood tests. Now, technological advances have enabled thousands of proteins to be measured simultaneously from a single sample, creating a comprehensive window for the aging of different organs.

“We hope our discovery will help new ways to help people stay longer as they age.”