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Uneven organ aging linked to higher death risk in UK cohort

Higher imbalance was linked to greater mortality risk, with a relative-risk measure called a hazard ratio of 1.11 per standard-deviation increase.

Paper by Yucan Li, Xinming Xu, Xinyi He, +6 more authorsXingdong Chen · Fudan University
A group of upright, faceless people stands beneath a whole heart, lungs with scattered gaps, and a gray kidney riddled with holes.

Our read

Biomarkers
Studied:
Preprint: cohort study of 221,599 UK Biobank participants (Independent replication)
What changed:
Death risk was higher with more uneven organ aging (hazard ratio of 1.11 per standard-deviation increase)
The catch:
Existing health differences could contribute to both uneven organ aging and later death

Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper
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Among 221,599 UK Biobank participants, an observational analysis examined differences in biological aging across six organ systems. The researchers put measures of biological aging on a common scale, then calculated how widely they differed across organs within each person. A standard deviation describes the spread of scores.

Greater imbalance was associated with a higher risk of death after accounting for overall biological aging, chronological age and sex. It was also linked to six new organ-disease outcomes and three transitions involving multiple diseases. The mortality association persisted even among people with relatively low overall biological aging, with a hazard ratio of 1.09. The researchers validated the mortality associations in five external cohorts.

Why it matters

Organs can differ in their biological aging. The authors suggest that considering these differences alongside overall biological age may offer a fuller view of vulnerability to illness and death.

Caveats

Existing health differences could have contributed both to uneven organ aging and to later illness or death. The findings come from a preprint that has not been peer-reviewed.

Where the evidence stands

Amino acid metabolism

Mice: replicated by independent labs. Cells, worms or flies and humans: a single group.

C, W, M, H: cells, worms or flies, mice, humans. Dark: independent labs found the same change there. Light: one lab or one study. Outline: nothing yet.

Labs are independent when their papers share no last author and no institution.

Against: findings that point the other way from most findings on the same outcome.

Company ties: findings with an author at a company, or from a paper whose competing-interests statement declares ties to one.

Includes the processes named after it and trials of drugs aimed at it.

  • 57 independent labs in 19 countries
  • 2 findings against
  • Funders: National Institutes of Health and others
  • 10 of 65 findings with company ties

DNA repair

Cells and mice: replicated by independent labs. Worms or flies and humans: a single group.

C, W, M, H: cells, worms or flies, mice, humans. Dark: independent labs found the same change there. Light: one lab or one study. Outline: nothing yet.

Labs are independent when their papers share no last author and no institution.

Against: findings that point the other way from most findings on the same outcome.

Company ties: findings with an author at a company, or from a paper whose competing-interests statement declares ties to one.

Includes the processes named after it and trials of drugs aimed at it.

  • 124 independent labs in 27 countries
  • 5 findings against
  • 1 trial
  • Funders: National Institutes of Health and others
  • 25 of 192 findings with company ties
  • 1 of 1 trial sponsored by developers of drugs aimed at it

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