Gauges health assessment tools of the biological age of the body better than current methods

A new health assessment tool uses eight measures derived from the physical examination of a person and routine laboratory tests to characterize biological age. He may be able to better predict the risk of disability and death of a person than current health predictors.

Researchers at the Washington University of Medicine School describe their method in May 5 Nature communications paper.

The method, called the Health Octo tool, could make it possible to identify new factors that affect aging and to design interventions that prolong life, said the first author of the report, Dr. Shabnam Salimi. She is a doctor-scientist and acting instructor in the department of anesthesiology and pain medicine. She is also an investigator at the Uw Medicine Healthy Vieging & Longevity Research Institute

Current health assessment methods focus on the effects of individual diseases but do not take into account interactions between diseases and the impact of minor overall health disorders, said Salimi.

“A framework based on aging offers a new path to discover the biomarkers and therapies that target aging specific to the organ or the whole body, rather than individual diseases,” said Salimi.

The approach is based on an aging concept called “health entropy”. The term applies to the quantity of molecular and cell lesions that the body has accumulated over time and to the way in which these damage affected the function of the organs and the system. Thus, health entropy could serve as a measure of the overall physical well-being of an individual and be translated to describe the rhythm of a person’s aging.

The researchers analyzed data from the longitudinal study of Baltimore on aging, one of the longest studies of adults as they age. The data included the participants’ medical history and the results of their physical exams and their medical tests. To validate their new approach, the researchers then analyzed the results of two other major studies which have traced the health of more than 45,000 adults.

The researchers started by establishing what they called a body organ disease number. This was based on the number of organ systems, such as cardiovascular, respiratory and central nervous systems, which were affected by the disease and if the individual had undergone cancer or a stroke. This score could range from 1 to 14.

“Our results have shown that organ systems Age at different rates, encouraging us to develop a metric of age specific to the bodily system to reflect the aging rate of each organ system and the specific body clock to represent the intrinsic of each organ system biological ageSaid Salimi.

Given that all people of the same organic age do not feel the same functional decline, researchers have also developed what they called a speed clock and speed age to describe how biological age affects walking speed, a common measurement of function in the elderly. They also created a disability clock and the age of the body of disability, to assess how intrinsic aging affects the risk of cognitive and physical disability.

“Collectively, these eight measures – body clock, bodily age, clocks and rate specific to the system, speed -based clocks and disabilities – offer a way to see an individual’s aging process with information collected from their medical history, their physical exams and their tests,” said Salimi.

It is particularly interesting to note that certain conditions which could be considered as minor problems, such as untreated hypertension early in life, can have a major effect on aging later, indicating that the early treatment of these conditions could have a significant impact, said Salimi.

The research team is now developing a digital application that will allow individuals, with their health care providers, to determine the biological ages of their bodies and their organ and monitor their aging rate and assess the effect of lifestyle changes and treatments.

“Whether someone adopts a new diet, exercising a routine or taking medication targeting longevity, it will be able to visualize how their body – and each organ system – replies,” she said.

Daniel Rafrity, professor of anesthesiology and pain medicine at the UW School of Medicine and director of the Northwest Metabolomics Research Center, and Dr. Luigi Ferrucci, scientific director of the National Institute of Aging, are the main co-authors of the newspaper.