brain aging

Introduction

• a term used in the literature in conjunction with grey matter atrophy, MRI white-matter hyperintensity & cardiovascular health
• the brain age gap is proposed as a biological marker of brain resilience

Pathology

• unhealthy lifestyle (unhealthy diet, sedentary behaviors) coupled with cardiometabolic risk factors (hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, obesity) heighten the risk of cognitive impairment, including dementia
• a greater brain age gap (older-looking brain) is associated with
  • physical inactivity, diabetes, & stroke
• lesser brain age gap (younger-looking brain) is associated with prediabetes
• exercise reduces brain age gap in obese 70-79 year olds
• greater brain age gap is associated with
  • greater small vessel disease burden, MRI white-matter hyperintensities, inflammation, hyperglycemia, poorer vascular-related cognitive domains

Management

• a more favorable cardiovascular health profile* is associated with slower MRI white-matter hyperintensity progression
• genetic risk* is associated with faster white matter hyperintensity progression, except if favorable global or behavioral cardiovascular health profile
• genetic risk* is associated with faster grey matter atrophy
• a favoable association was found between a Mediterranean & MRI white-matter hyperintensities

* cardiovascular health profile determined by

• 4 behavioral factors: 0 smoking, physical activity, dietary habits, body-mass index
• 3 biological factors:
  • total serum cholesterol, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose from Life's Simple 7

* genetic risk scores determined by the presence of risk alleles for

• hypertension, diabetes, or dyslipidemia

More general terms

• aging

Additional terms

• MRI cerebral white matter lesion (white matter hyperintensity)