Do human body organs age at the same time? Understand – 12/06/2023 – Balance

Although age is typically defined by the number of years a person has lived, researchers believe it is possible to perform a blood test to assess the aging rates of a person’s internal organs.

This could help predict which organs may be at risk of failure in the near future.

The Stanford University team says it is possible to monitor 11 main parts of the body, including the heart, brain and lungs.

The Stanford team tested this on thousands of adults, most of them middle-aged or older.

One in five healthy adults over the age of 50 may have at least one rapidly aging organ, according to study results.

And one in 100 may have multiple organs that are older than their year of birth.

While this idea of ​​a check-up may seem scary, it could be an opportunity to preview and change the future course of any vulnerable organs, researchers say.

Knowing which organs are in rapid decline could help reveal what health problems may be about to emerge, researchers say in an article in the journal Nature.

Age difference of organs

For example, a heart that is “old for its age” increases the risk of heart failure, while a rapidly aging brain may be more prone to dementia.

According to the study, having one or more organs aging rapidly is associated with a greater risk of certain diseases and death over the next 15 years.

The body parts they checked include:

• Brain
• Heart
• Liver
• Lung
• Intestine
• Kidney
• Fat
• Blood vessels (arteries)
• Immune tissue
• Muscle
• Pancreas

This blood test analyzes different levels of thousands of proteins to provide clues about which organs are aging at different rates.

Researchers trained a machine learning algorithm to make predictions using lots of blood test results and patient data.

One of the researchers, Tony Wyss-Coray, explained: “When we compared the biological age of each of these organs for each individual with their counterparts among a large group of people without obvious serious illnesses, we found that 18.4% of people aged 50 years of age or older had at least one organ aging significantly faster than average.”

“And we found that these individuals are at increased risk for disease in this specific organ over the next 15 years.”

Stanford University has already submitted documentation to patent the test, if it can be used and sold in the future.

More studies are needed before then to see if it really is good at measuring age and organ health.

Some of Wyss-Coray’s previous work suggests that the biological aging process is not constant, but rather occurs in bursts, with some rapid accelerations in people in their 30s, early 60s and late 70s.

Professor James Timmons, an expert in health and age-related diseases at Queen Mary University of London, has also studied blood markers of biological age. His work focuses on detectable genetic changes, not proteins.

He said Wyss-Coray’s latest findings were impressive but needed validation in more people, especially younger people from diverse ethnic backgrounds.

“Is it (the test detects) aging or a new way to detect biomarkers of early age-related diseases? The authors favor the former, (but) I don’t think the latter is ruled out,” he said.

Wyss-Coray said: “If we can replicate this finding in 50,000 or 100,000 individuals, it will mean that by monitoring the health of individual organs in apparently healthy people, we may be able to find organs that are experiencing accelerated aging in people’s bodies, and we may be able to treat people before they get sick.”

Professor Paul Sheils, an expert in the biology of aging at the University of Glasgow, said it was still important to look at the body as a whole, and not just individual organs, to build a more accurate picture of any person’s health.

Caroline Abrahams, from Age UK, said that while it is positive that science is advancing in early detection of serious age-related illnesses, it is necessary to consider how people may feel when given this information.

If such a test becomes a reality, she said people may want emotional and clinical support along with test results.