Schizophrenia, cannabis use,
and alcohol abuse are just several disorders that are related to accelerated
brain aging
August 21, 2018
IOS Press
In the largest known brain
imaging study, scientists evaluated 62,454 brain SPECT (single photon emission
computed tomography) scans of more than 30,000 individuals from 9 months old to
105 years of age to investigate factors that accelerate brain aging.
In the largest known brain
imaging study, scientists from Amen Clinics (Costa Mesa, CA), Google, John's
Hopkins University, University of California, Los Angeles and the University of
California, San Francisco evaluated 62,454 brain SPECT (single photon emission
computed tomography) scans of more than 30,000 individuals from 9 months old to
105 years of age to investigate factors that accelerate brain aging. SPECT
tomography) evaluates regional cerebral blood flow in the brain that is reduced
in various disorders.
Lead author, psychiatrist
Daniel G. Amen, MD, founder of Amen Clinics, commented, "Based on one of
the largest brain imaging studies ever done, we can now track common disorders
and behaviors that prematurely age the brain. Better treatment of these disorders
can slow or even halt the process of brain aging. The cannabis abuse finding
was especially important, as our culture is starting to see marijuana as an
innocuous substance. This study should give us pause about it."
The current study used brain
SPECT imaging to determine aging trajectories in the brain and which common
brain disorders predict abnormally accelerated aging. It examined these
functional neuroimaging scans from a large multi-site psychiatric clinic from
patients who had many different psychiatric disorders, including bipolar
disorder, schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Researchers studied 128 brain
regions to predict the chronological age of the patient. Older age predicted
from the scan compared to the actual chronological age was interpreted as
accelerated aging. The study found that a number of brain disorders and
behaviors predicted accelerated aging, especially schizophrenia, which showed
an average of 4 years of premature aging, cannabis abuse (2.8 years of
accelerated aging), bipolar disorder (1.6 years accelerated aging), ADHD (1.4
years accelerated aging) and alcohol abuse (0.6 years accelerated aging).
Interestingly, the researchers did not observe accelerated aging in depression
and aging, which they hypothesize may be due to different types of brain
patterns for these disorders.
Commenting on the study,
George Perry, PhD, Chief Scientist at the Brain Health Consortium from the
University of Texas at San Antonio, said, "This is one of the first population-based
imaging studies, and these large studies are essential to answer how to
maintain brain structure and function during aging. The effect of modifiable
and non-modifiable factors of brain aging will further guide advice to maintain
cognitive function."
Co-investigator Sachit Egan,
Google Inc. (Mountain View, CA), said, "This paper represents an important
step forward in our understanding of how the brain operates throughout the
lifespan. The results indicate that we can predict an individual's age based on
patterns of cerebral blood flow. Additionally, groundwork has been laid to
further explore how common psychiatric disorders can influence healthy patterns
of cerebral blood flow."
Story Source:
Materials provided by IOS Press. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Daniel G. Amen, Sachit Egan,
Somayeh Meysami, Cyrus A. Raji, Noble George. Patterns of Regional
Cerebral Blood Flow as a Function of Age Throughout the Lifespan. Journal
of Alzheimer's Disease, 2018; 1 DOI: 10.3233/JAD-180598
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