A recent study found that physical inactivity, diabetes, and stroke were associated with accelerated brain aging, while regular physical exercise appeared protective against age-related brain changes, particularly in people with obesity.
The research, published in Alzheimer's & Dementia, examined 739 cognitively unimpaired 70-year-olds to understand how lifestyle factors and medical conditions related to differences between chronological age and biological brain age.
Physically inactive participants showed brains appearing 1.75 years older than their chronological age. Those with diabetes exhibited brains appearing 0.78 years older, while stroke/transient ischemic attack was associated with 0.53 years of accelerated aging. Notably, individuals with prediabetes showed younger-appearing brains, though this association became statistically insignificant after adjusting for other risk factors.
The study found that participants with obesity who exercised regularly demonstrated significantly younger brain ages compared with physically inactive individuals with obesity (by 1.93 years) and physically inactive individuals with normal BMI (by 1.92 years).
Sex-specific patterns emerged, with men showing stronger correlations between accelerated brain aging and inflammation markers, glucose dysregulation, and small vessel disease. Men demonstrated poorer performance in attention/speed, verbal fluency, and visuospatial abilities, while women showed stronger associations between brain aging and deficits in episodic memory and executive function.
Greater brain age differences correlated with poorer performance on tests of attention, processing speed, and visuospatial abilities - cognitive domains typically affected in vascular cognitive impairment.
The researchers used artificial intelligence to analyze brain MRI scans and calculate the difference between predicted biological brain age and chronological age. The findings suggested that vascular-related lifestyle factors and metabolic health significantly influenced brain aging trajectories.
Conflict of interest disclosures can be found in the study.