Poor Heart Health Can Lead to a Premature Brain Later in Your Life: New Study

Poor heart health has been found by researchers from the United Kingdom as a plausible element to predict brain age later in one's life.

In their new study, the research team asserted that having a heart in a poor health condition can lead to a premature brain once the person reaches a certain age.

The discovery confirmed previous claims that there is a connection between the two organs.

The new research employed participants from the UK and used a unique model to estimate the brain age of the individuals involved the study.

The results yielded that a person's brain can either be young or old regardless of the age, which has been a factor believed for a long time to be parallel with brain age.

In reality, empirical evidence showed there are other related factors existing other than birth age.

In the past, various research have shown that lifestyle choices, hereditary factors, and even heart health are significant factors when it comes to estimating the brain age of a person short-term or long-term.

While the subject matter may be simplistic, the study on brain age can be relevant in treatment and therapeutic purposes related to the heart and the brain.

Heart Health and Premature Brain

(Photo : Photo by the National Institutes of Health via Wikimedia Commons)

Findings about the connection between poor heart health and a premature brain was published in the journal The Lancet Health Longevity on Monday, August 22.

The new paper involved researchers from the University College London (UCL) who estimated people's brain age using MRI scans through machine learning.

They also identified many risk factors for a prematurely aging brain.

In particular, the team found that the worse case of cardiovascular health at age 36 could equate to a higher brain age later in life.

In addition, they also discovered men tend to have older brains than women of the same age.

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Machine Learning Model

The UCL researchers highlighted that a higher brain age was linked to slightly worse scores during cognitive tests.

Furthermore, the assessments also predicted of increased brain shrinkage or atrophy over the next two years.

The results suggested that it could be a significant clinical marker for people at risk of degenerative cognitive condition or other brain-related illnesses.

The UCL's assertion was made possible after estimating the brain age of the "Insight 46 study" members, which is funder by the Alzheimer's Research UK, according to the Medical Xpress, a medical and health news service by Science X Network.

Brain Age and Related Variants

The mentioned UK study was not the first one to explore the linkage between the heart and brain age.

In fact, there are already existing literature when it comes to the potential links of how an aging brain occur, aside from biological clock aging or age from birth.

In a separate paper published in the journal Scientific Reports in October 2021, a collaborative study between researchers in Italy, Spain, the UK, and their colleagues concluded that brain age can be estimated using various Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

The 2021 study also showed that cardiac risk factors, genetic variants, and life measures, are also connected brain age estimation at tract group level.