npj Aging
A urinary microRNA aging clock accurately predicts biological age
Cohort study of 6,331 peopleBiomarkers
Independent replication
Abstract
We aimed to develop and validate a urinary miRNA aging clock, positioning urine as a scalable, non-invasive aging-biomarker source. Using machine learning on 6331 adults, our clock achieved MAE ≈ 4.4 years (R² ≈ 0.79) in independent validation. The clock's key biomarkers included well-established geromiRs miR-34a-5p, miR-31-5p, miR-146a-5p, and miR-155-5p. While slightly less accurate than DNA-methylation clocks, our model outperformed blood-based miRNA and mRNA clocks, underscoring urinary miRNAs as promising, truly non-invasive biomarkers of biological age and disease risk.
- Machine learning
- Urinary microRNA aging clock
- Blood-based miRNA and mRNA clocks
- DNA methylation clock
- miR-146a-5p
- Humans
The paper
Craif Inc.; Nagoya University
npj Aging, 15 Dec 2025


