Therefore, a panel of biological age markers may allow us to detect mechanisms underlying both physiological aging processes and brain aging process, so that targets of intervention can be identified and ultimately be optimized for prevention. ![]() Studying neurological aging in conjunction with physiological aging is meaningful, given that substantial neurodegeneration has already occurred when cognitive decline and dementia manifest 23. Furthermore, physiological health is closely related to neurological health, of which the mechanisms underlying brain aging are poorly understood 22. Assessments of biological age can provide an overview of one’s general physiological health (as measured by glucose, mean red cell volume, white blood cell count, C-reactive protein among other markers) 21. Physiological biomarkers tend to be stronger predictors of mortality and aging-related morbidity outcomes than molecular biological age measures 4, indicating the complexity of human aging processes. The concept of biological age has been constructed and validated in large human cohort studies for a panel of physiological biomarkers 6, 7, 8, differentially methylated sites in DNA (DNAm age) 9, 10, circulatory metabolites (metabo-age), the levels of messenger-RNAs 11 and microRNAs (miRNAs) in both whole blood 12 and plasma samples (Wu J.W. These applications may provide insight on how to extend both lifespan and healthspan and cope with the burden of ARDs worldwide. Biomarkers of biological age have great potential in evaluating healthy-aging intervention programs, selecting suitable candidates for clinical trials, as well as indicating levels of personal health, and predicting risk of aging-related diseases. Investigating biological age can help identify individuals at higher risk of disease and death, before clinical manifestation of disease. Modifiable risk factors as a whole predict mortality reasonably well over time, even though independent genetic factors predict mortality only modestly 5. Biological age, defined by clinical and molecular biomarkers, indeed predicts overall mortality and ARDs, sometimes even better than chronological age 4. More specifically, it concerns with the underlying, disease-independent accumulation of pathophysiological changes that contribute toward mortality over time 1, 2, 3. As opposed to chronological aging, an index of the passage of human time, biological aging refers to the underlying aging processes at the biological level. This highlights a key concept that due to underlying biological mechanisms, biological age at an individual level can be separated from chronological age 1, 2, 3. It has long been observed that the pace of aging varies from person to person. An improved understanding of the aging process can potentially extend healthspan and reduce ARDs burden. Prevention of aging-related diseases (ARDs) is paramount in the current era of population aging. We conclude that accelerated biological age for a given age is a predictor of major age-related morbidity, including dementia, among healthy elderly. Top differentially expressed microRNAs based on biological age had a higher significance level than those based on chronological age, suggesting that biological age captures aspects of aging signals at the epigenetic level. We additionally tested the association of microRNAs with age and identified 263 microRNAs significantly associated with biological and chronological age alike. Each one-year increase in BioAge1/2 was associated with 11% elevated risk (HR 1.11 95%CI 1.08–1.14) of mortality and 7% elevated risk (HR 1.07 95%CI 1.05–1.09) of first morbidities. BioAge1 and BioAge2 predict dementia equally well, as well as lifespan and healthspan. We present a community-based cohort study of 1930 participants with a mean age of 72 years and a follow-up period of over 7 years, using two variants of a phenotypic blood-based algorithm that either excludes (BioAge1) or includes (BioAge2) neurofilament light chain (NfL) as a neurodegenerative marker. ![]() ![]() While algorithms predicting mortality and most aging-related morbidities have been reported, the major shortcoming has been an inability to predict dementia. ![]() Application of biological age as a measure of an individual´s health status offers new perspectives into extension of both lifespan and healthspan.
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