Heart ultrasound model flags fat linked to metabolic risk
The model scored 0.86 for distinguishing scans labeled as showing prominent fat around the heart, on a statistical measure of how well it separated groups.
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Biomarkers- Studied:
- Study of 28,797 people
- Why it’s aging research:
- It bears on staying healthy in midlife and later life.
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Heart ultrasound scans from patients in the Yale-New Haven Health System formed the basis of an observational study of fat around the heart. Researchers developed PanAdipo, an artificial intelligence model, using videos from 28,797 scan studies. They evaluated it in five testing cohorts, including 5,167 patients with paired ultrasound and computed tomography scans—images made using X-rays—taken within 12 months.
The model distinguished unusually high fat volume relative to heart size on computed tomography scans, scoring 0.90 on the discrimination measure. Among 950 participants in the community-based Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, higher scores were associated with greater insulin resistance—a poorer response to insulin—after accounting for age, sex and body mass index.
Why it matters
Metabolic risk assessment bears on diseases common in later life. The authors suggest that heart ultrasound could offer a scalable way to assess that risk.
Caveats
The model learned from clinicians’ report labels rather than direct measurements of heart fat. Health differences not captured by age, sex and body mass index may contribute to the association with insulin resistance.
The paper
Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Nov 2026
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