NPJ digital medicineFeb 25, 2026

Organ-specific aging measured by imaging predicts human diseases and risk of death

Longevity & Aging Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗OA ↗

Updated Jun 27, 2026

Abstract

Essence

Organ-specific imaging age gaps may mark future organ-related disease and mortality risk.

Evidence

Observational imaging analysis of 1,777 imaging-derived phenotypes in 11,000 healthy participants estimated biological age for seven organs and linked age gaps with incident diseases, mortality, proteomic signatures, and 14 drug targets.

Caveat

The abstract reports predictive associations and target nomination, not evidence that changing organ age gaps or acting on the targets improves outcomes.

Simplified

Organ-specific aging clocks hold great potential in reflecting organ health. In vivo imaging is inherently organ-specific and delineates structural and functional characteristics more objectively. However, there is no systematic evaluation of imaging-based aging clocks. We utilized 1777 imaging-derived phenotypes (IDPs) from 11,000 healthy participants and assessed the organ-specific biological age of seven organs. The organ-specific age gap was primarily associated with incident diseases and mortality related to corresponding organs. The top-contributing IDPs to organ-specific biological age emerged as biomarkers for incident disease predictions, achieving an area under the curve (AUC) greater than 0.8 for dementia (AUC = 0.82). Subsequent proteomic analysis revealed 966 shared and 507 organ-specific molecular signatures for the aging of different organs. Finally, we identified key modifiable factors and 14 drug targets for organ-specific aging. The imaging-based aging clocks demonstrate organ-specificity at both macro and micro scales, which could promote personalized intervention and treatment of organ aging.