Ten Years of BrainAGE as a Neuroimaging Biomarker of Brain Aging: What Insights Have We Gained?

• Published in: Frontiers in neurology Vol. 10; p. 789
• Main Authors: Franke, Katja, Gaser, Christian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 14.08.2019
• Subjects: biomarker; brain age estimation; intervention; metabolic health; MRI; neurodegeneration; Neurology; metabolic health; neurodevelopment; MRI; neurodegeneration; biomarker; brain age estimation; intervention; psychiatric disorders
• ISSN: 1664-2295; 1664-2295
• DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2019.00789

With the aging population, prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases is increasing, thus placing a growing burden on individuals and the whole society. However, individual rates of aging are shaped by a great variety of and the interactions between environmental, genetic, and epigenetic factors. Establishing biomarkers of the neuroanatomical aging processes exemplifies a new trend in neuroscience in order to provide risk-assessments and predictions for age-associated neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases at a single-subject level. The " method constitutes the first and actually most widely applied concept for predicting and evaluating individual brain age based on structural MRI. This review summarizes all studies published within the last 10 years that have established and utilized the method to evaluate the effects of interaction of genes, environment, life burden, diseases, or life time on individual neuroanatomical aging. In future, and other brain age prediction approaches based on structural or functional markers may improve the assessment of individual risks for neurological, neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases as well as aid in developing personalized neuroprotective treatments and interventions.