Biological age linked to death risk after heart artery procedures
Using one biological age measure, the relative death rate was 2.00 for the highest versus lowest acceleration quarter in patients with low genetic risk.
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In an observational study of 3,484 patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention, a procedure to open narrowed heart arteries, researchers examined deaths from any cause over a median follow-up of 10 years. They compared a score of inherited coronary artery disease risk with three estimates of biological age. Biological age acceleration measured how far these estimates differed from what was expected for a person's actual age.
Mortality did not differ significantly across low, intermediate and high genetic risk groups. Greater biological age acceleration was associated with higher death risk in the low and intermediate groups. The associations were not statistically significant in the high genetic risk group. Only one biological age measure showed a statistically significant difference in the association across genetic risk groups.
Why it matters
Biological age assessment addresses whether aging-related changes add useful information beyond inherited susceptibility when estimating long-term survival after a heart artery procedure.
Caveats
The observational design cannot establish cause and effect. The findings concern patients undergoing this heart procedure; the conference abstract did not report their ages or sex.