Your chronological age is one thing, but how old are you, biologically speaking?
A new test called the Health Oco Tool claims to provide patients with a snapshot of their biological age by using eight measures from physical exams and routine lab tests. Compared to existing measures, the assessment may provide more precise insight into a person’s risk of disability and death.
“An aging-based framework offers a new path to discover biomarkers and therapeutics that target organ-specific or whole-body aging, rather than individual diseases,” said Shabnam Salimi, a physician-scientist and acting instructor in the Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, in a May 5 news release.
The tool relies on the idea that the accumulation of molecular and cellular damage over time can impact the function of the body’s organs and systems. Known as “health entropy,” the concept can be used to measure an individual’s overall physical condition and to gain insight into the speed at which a person is aging.
The researchers created what they referred to as a Body Organ Disease Number. This number indicates how many organ systems are affected by disease and whether an individual has had cancer or a stroke, with scores ranging from one to 14.
“Our findings demonstrated that organ systems age at different rates, prompting us to develop a Bodily System-Specific Age metric to reflect the aging rate of each organ system and the Bodily-Specific Clock to represent each organ system’s intrinsic biological age,” Salimi said.
“Extending this concept to the whole body, we define the Body Clock as a composite measure of overall intrinsic age and Body Age as the corresponding rate of aging.”
Together, the eight metrics provided a way to assess a person’s aging process using the data gleaned from the medical history and tests.
The team is now working to create a digital application that will enable people to determine their body and organs’ biological age.
“Whether someone is adopting a new diet, exercise routine or taking longevity-targeting drugs, they will be able to visualize how their body — and each organ system — is responding,” said Salimi.