DunedinPACNI estimates the longitudinal Pace of Aging from a single brain image to track health and disease
To understand how aging affects functional decline and increases disease risk, it is necessary to develop measures of how fast a person is aging. Using data from the Dunedin Study, we introduce an accurate and reliable measure for the rate of longitudinal aging derived from cross-sectional brain magnetic resonance imaging, that is, the Dunedin Pace of Aging Calculated from NeuroImaging (DunedinPACNI). Exporting this measure to the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, UK Biobank and BrainLat datasets revealed that faster DunedinPACNI predicted cognitive impairment, accelerated brain atrophy and conversion to diagnosed dementia. Faster DunedinPACNI also predicted physical frailty, poor health, future chronic diseases and mortality in older adults. When compared to brain age gap, DunedinPACNI was similarly or more strongly related to clinical outcomes. DunedinPACNI is a next-generation brain magnetic resonance imaging biomarker that can help researchers explore aging effects on health outcomes and evaluate the effectiveness of antiaging strategies.
Authors
- Sean Hogan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8568-3426)
- Tracy R. Melzer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0621-212X)
- Sandhya Ramrakha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0383-9886)
- Maxwell L. Elliott
- Avshalom Caspi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0082-4600)
- Ethan T. Whitman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3208-171X)
- Benjamin Williams (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3274-5317)
- Tim Anderson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1116-3839)
- David Ireland (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7343-916X)
- Reremoana F. Theodore (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1057-9859)
- Ahmad R. Hariri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3052-9880)
- Annchen R. Knodt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6501-8947)
- Wickliffe C. Abraham (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9919-0622)
- Terrie E. Moffitt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8589-6760)
- Karen Sugden (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4076-5927)
- Nicholas J. Cutfield
Institutions
- Harvard University (US)
- Duke University (US)
- King's College London (GB)
- University of Oslo (NO)
- University of Canterbury (NZ)
- Christchurch Hospital (NZ)
- Pacific Radiology (New Zealand) (NZ)
- New Zealand Brain Research Institute (NZ)
- Duke University Hospital (US)
- University of Otago (NZ)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Aging
- Published
- 2025-07-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-025-00897-z
- Citations
- 15
- Primary Topic
- Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 22.07
Funders
- Alzheimer's Association
- Bristol-Myers Squibb
- Eli Lilly and Company
- Pfizer
- Biogen
- F. Hoffmann-La Roche
- Meso Scale Diagnostics
- BioClinica
- Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
- Northern California Institute for Research and Education
- Eisai
- Servier
- H. Lundbeck A/S
- IXICO
- National Institutes of Health
- Genentech
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Medical Research Council
- National Institute on Aging