A simple blood test could predict a person’s risk of major diseases, such as cancer or dementia, by identifying which organs are ageing at different rates, a new study has found.
In an unexpected twist, the highest risk of dementia was found in people whose immune system aged faster than usual – not in people whose brains aged more rapidly in midlife.
Kidney health was also found to be linked to other organs, with people with accelerated kidney ageing more likely to later develop vascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and liver diseases.
The researchers said this may explain why people with a rapidly ageing organ were particularly prone to experiencing multiple age-related diseases across different organs.
They measured the gap between a person’s chronological (actual) age and the biological age of each of their organs, and found that organs often aged at different rates in the same person.
