New tool can predict dementia risk by reading brain's 'hidden aging clock'
Researchers from the United States and New Zealand have introduced a new magnetic resonance image-based tool that reads the brain's "hidden aging clock," predicting risk for dementia.
The South China Morning Post reported that the DunedinPACNI has been tracking 1,037 babies born in Dunedin from birth, continuing through their lives, as some kind of 50-year timelapse study.
The name DunedinPACNI is partly derived from the Dunedin Study, a long-term health research project in New Zealand that started in 1972, while PACNI stands for Pace of Aging Calculated from NeuroImaging.
It's often called “the world’s most detailed study of human development."
As part of the study, researchers routinely gather comprehensive data on participants’ physical, mental, and brain health, as well as their lifestyle, relationships, and genetics.
The Dunedin Study monitors subjects as they age, unlike other aging clocks, which collect data from people across ages at a single point in time.
DunedinPACNI, through a single brain scan, can estimate the overall rate at which a person's body is aging and, based on that estimate, predict the likelihood of developing dementia and other age-related diseases years—or even decades—before symptoms emerge.
Ahmad Hariri, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University’s Institute for Brain Sciences, said DunedinPACNI doesn't provide a measure of change.
Hariri said it's rather a measure that can be used to determine how fast a person’s body is aging at any given moment.
Having this information in midlife could help one assess their relative risk of developing chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease later on.
The MRI operates on the premise that the same aging processes occurring at the molecular and cellular levels throughout the body also do the same in the brain.
The tool, then, provides a comprehensive assessment of aging across the entire body and aligns with common indicators of systemic aging, including blood pressure, lung function, and cardiovascular health.
“The team was awestruck by how well a single brain MRI can predict how fast a person’s body is aging, and that by knowing this, we could help predict their later risk for chronic diseases and even death,” Hariri said.
According to Hariri, tests like DunedinPACNI could revolutionize the approach to dementia diagnosis and, possibly, treatment.
If someone underwent this scan and the results indicated an elevated risk of dementia, they could implement lifestyle changes well before any symptoms appeared. That could potentially delay, and even prevent, the onset of the disease.
Hariri noted that the present treatments being given are usually given too late. He asked, "What is the point of treating a 'dying brain'?"
“DunedinPACNI could become a useful tool to help motivate people to adopt healthier habits and lifestyle choices that reduce their risk for later diseases,” Hariri said. “It’s all about prevention as early as possible. We need to make positive changes before there is too much damage that we cannot recover from.”
Hariri said his team isn't aware of any other MRI measure like DunedinPACNI. They're hoping for it to be adopted in clinical practice "within a few years."