Scientists develop MRI technique to measure if your heart is aging too fast for your good

Scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have developed a way to measure how well your heart is aging using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans. The technique, published today, could help doctors find heart problems earlier and encourage people to make healthier choices before things get serious.

As we grow older, our hearts slowly change in size, shape, and function. These changes can affect how well it pumps blood and handles stress. But some people’s hearts age faster than others—especially if they have conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, or obesity.

MRI scans provide a clear, detailed picture of how the heart is working. The UEA team wanted to use this imaging technology to create a formula that predicts a heart’s functional age—which tells us how old it acts, rather than how old the person actually is.

The research team studied 557 people across multiple hospitals in the UK, Spain, and Singapore. They split them into two groups:

• The healthy group: 191 people with normal body weight and no heart or metabolic diseases (like diabetes or hypertension).
• The validation group: 366 people who had a higher body mass index (BMI above 25) and at least one condition such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or atrial fibrillation.

By analyzing their MRI scans, the team focused on two important heart measurements—left atrial end-systolic volume and left atrial ejection fraction—to create a formula for calculating heart age. Here's what they found:

• In healthy individuals (median age 34 years, 55% female), the functional heart age was almost identical to their actual age. Statistical analysis confirmed there was almost no difference (P = 0.993).
• But in people with health conditions (median age 53 years, 43% female), their functional heart age was, on average, 4.6 years older than their real age (P = 0.003).
• The heart aging effect was most noticeable in people with hypertension (P

Among people who were obese, the aging effect varied:

• Mild obesity (Class I): Heart age was slightly higher (P = 0.07).
• Moderate obesity (Class II): Similar trend (P = 0.11).
• Severe obesity (Class III): The heart was significantly older than expected (P

Lead researcher Dr. Pankaj Garg explained why this discovery is important. “We found that an MRI scan can reveal your heart’s ‘functional age’—how old it acts, not how old you are. For example, a 50-year-old with high blood pressure might have a heart that works like it’s 55.”

By knowing this information, doctors could step in early, giving advice or treatments before serious heart disease develops. “This is a game-changer for keeping hearts healthier, longer,” Dr. Garg said. “Heart disease remains one of the world’s biggest killers. Our MRI method provides a powerful tool to evaluate heart health before symptoms even appear.”

PhD student Hosam Assadi also emphasized how this method could change routine heart check-ups. “We’ve found a way to spot hearts that are aging too fast, and that could mean catching problems early enough to fix them. I hope this could become a standard check-up for hearts in the future.”

Source: UEA, Open European Heart Journal

This article was generated with some help from AI and reviewed by an editor.

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