Biological heart age from scans is linked to risk of death
Each added year of estimated cardiovascular age beyond chronological age was linked to a hazard ratio of 1.41 for death from any cause.
Limit: The study evaluated all-cause mortality but did not record causes of death
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In an observational cohort study, researchers analyzed scans from over 33,000 UK Biobank participants. They trained sex-specific machine-learning models on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and carotid ultrasound scans to estimate biological cardiovascular age. A higher gap between estimated cardiovascular age and chronological age was associated with increased all-cause mortality, with a hazard ratio of 1.41 per year of increase after adjusting for chronological age, sex, body mass index, smoking, and deprivation.
Current smoking showed the strongest association with higher cardiovascular age, followed by diabetes, which exceeded body mass index as the leading cardiometabolic factor. Diabetes was associated with an estimated cardiovascular age gap of roughly 1.3 to 1.5 years older than disease-free individuals, and heart failure with a gap of roughly 1.1 to 1.4 years. Key imaging contributors included fat around the heart, chamber volumes and function, artery stiffness, and carotid artery thickness.
Why it matters
Chronological age does not capture the wide differences in how people's cardiovascular systems change over time. An imaging-based estimate of biological heart age could help identify individuals undergoing accelerated cardiovascular aging and support targeted preventive care.
Caveats
The study was observational, meaning it cannot show whether accelerated cardiovascular aging caused the increased risk of death. The results were presented in a conference abstract and reflect UK Biobank participants who had available imaging data.
