People who have a higher biological age than their actual chronological age have a significantly increased risk of stroke and dementia, especially vascular dementia. These are the results of a study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in theĀ Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. The study is titled, “Clinical biomarker-based biological aging and future risk of neurological disorders in the UK Biobank.”The study, which was led by Sara HƤgg, associate professor, and Jonathan Mak, doctoral student at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, shows that the increased risk persists even if other risk factors such as genetics, lifestyle and socioeconomics are taken into account.
As we age, the risk of chronic diseases such as cancer,Ā cardiovascular diseaseĀ and neurodegenerative disorders increases. Researchers have traditionally relied onĀ chronological ageāthe number of years a person has been aliveāas an approximate measure ofĀ biological age.