Feature-specific BrainAGE profiles in middle and late adulthood: Investigating the relationships between individual body, brain, and cognitive aging

• Applicant: Dr. Katja Franke
• Subject Area: Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience ; Experimental and Theoretical Network Neuroscience
• Term: since 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 284374581

With life expectancy rising worldwide, it is important to determine what makes some people age healthier and more successfully than others. In particular, aging of the brain is associated with functional deterioration, often leading to loss of quality of life, significant disability and even neurodegenerative diseases. However, this complex aging process of the brain is still poorly understood, with a likely contribution from individual health and lifestyle factors. Since individual brain aging cannot be measured directly, but must be estimated, techniques have been developed to assess individual brain aging in a timely and accurate manner using state-of-the-art machine-learning based pattern recognition methods, with BrainAGE being the first and most widely used brain age prediction method, published by the applicant in 2010. Recent evidence in this rapidly growing field of research support the use of neuroimaging-based "brain age" as an effective biomarker for individual brain health. Increasingly, research is demonstrating that an ‘older’-appearing brain is associated with advanced physiological and cognitive aging.In this proposal, I aim to systematically investigate the complex relationships between markers of individual physical, cognitive and brain aging, i.e. determining which factors contribute to the individual differences between successful and unsuccessful aging in middle to late adulthood. This research project will use the UK Biobank, including comprehensive data of about 30,000 individuals. I will take a multi-faceted approach to define (i) structural brain aging, using various neuroimaging-based features, (ii) body aging, using a wealth of physiological and health data, and (iii) cognitive aging, using several standardized tests of cognitive function, thereby creating three individual aging constructs.In objective O1, I will expand and improve my well-established BrainAGE method for assessing different aspects of individual brain aging by including additional neuroimaging-based features. In objective O2, I will explore the association between brain and body aging, i.e. determining the influence of individual health profiles on successful vs. unsuccessful brain aging by complex statistical methods. In objective O3, I will investigate the associations between individual brain aging profiles and cognitive aging. Finally, in objective O4 the complex interrelationships between brain, body, and cognitive aging will be explored by determining the direct and indirect effects of brain aging. Importantly, since men and women were found to differ in fundamental aspects of their normal function and health, all analyses will be conducted in a gender-specific manner. I expect that this research project will further elucidate the role of overall health for individual differences in structural and functional brain aging.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants