MRI technology reveals that unhealthy lifestyles can age your heart prematurely for decades.
Scientists at University of East Anglia (UEA) have created a powerful new way to discover the real age of your heart using a simple MRI scan.
This breakthrough can reveal how really your heart works, not just your age on paper. And for people with unhealthy habits or conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes, the results could be alarm.
The new research shows that lifestyle choices can significantly speed up the speed at which your heart is aging, but now doctors can be able to take warning signs before it is too late.
The team calls for a new method a real “game changer” and could help millions of people to prevent heart disease even before the symptoms begin.
The principal researcher, Dr. Pankaj Garg, of the UEA Norwich School and Consultant Cardiologist at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, said: “Imagine that your heart is” older “than you. For people with conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes or obesity, this is often the case.
“Our new MRI approach does not only count your birthdays – it measures how well your heart is well.”
Led by the EUA, the research team has collaborated with hospitals in the United Kingdom, Spain and Singapore. They studied MRI scans of 557 people – 191 healthy individuals and 366 with conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes or obesity.
How does the technique work
Using advanced imaging, they measured things like the size and strength of the bedrooms of the heart. Then they built a formula to calculate the “functional age” of the heart and checked it against healthy hearts to ensure that it was precise.
Dr. Garg said: “We have found that an MRI can reveal” the functional age “of your heart – how old it acts, how old is you. In healthy people, we found that heart age was similar to chronological age. But for patients with things like diabetes, hypertension, obesity and autron fibrillation, their functional heart age was significantly higher.
He continues: “For example, a 50 -year -old man suffering from high blood pressure could have a heart that works as he is 55 years. People with health problems such as diabetes or obesity often have hearts that age more quickly than they should – sometimes during decades. So this could help doctors intervene earlier to stop heart disease in their tracks. It is a game editor to keep the hearts healthier, longer. ”
Implications for prevention and public health
Dr. Garg says: “Heart disease is one of the largest killers in the world. Our new MRI method gives doctors a powerful tool to look inside the heart like never before and locate problems early – even before the symptoms begin. By knowing the true age of your heart, patients could get advice or treatments to slow down the aging process, potentially to prevent heart attacks or blows. ”
“It could also be the awakening that people need to better take care of themselves-whether it is eating healthier, do more exercise or follow their doctor’s advice. It is a question of giving people a chance to fight against heart disease,” he added.
Doctoral student Hosam Assadi, also of the UEA Norwich Medical School, said: “It is exciting to see how this MRI technique could change its life. We found a way to spot hearts that age too quickly, and that could mean problems early enough to solve them. I hope this could become a standard examination for hearts in the future. ”
Reference: “Markets of imaging by cardiovascular magnetic resonance of aging: a multicenter and transverse cohort study” by Hosamadin S Assadi, Xiaodan Zhao, Gareth Matthews, Rui Li, Jordi Broncano Cabrero, Bahman Kasmai, Samer Alabed, Javier Royuela de Gurung-Koney Nair, Andrew J Swift, Vassilios s Vassiliou, Liang Zhong, Abdallah al-mohammad, Rob J van der Geest, Peter P Swoboda, Sven full and Pankaj Garg, May 2, 2025, European Heart Open Journal.
DOI: 10.1093 / Ehjopen / Oeaf032
This research was led by the UEA in collaboration with the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the National Heart Research Institute Singapore, the University of Sheffield, the San Juan Hospital in Dios (Spain), Barts Health NHS Trust, Leiden University Medical Center (The Netherlands), the University of Leeds and de Singapore.
Funding: Wellcoma Trust
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