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Um exame de ressonância magnética funcional (colorido artificialmente) de um cérebro humano.
©Nature: Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute/Science Photo Library

Nature, 27 August 2024

What accelerates brain ageing? This AI ‘brain clock’ points to answers

Exposure to air pollution and living in a country with high socio-economic inequality are linked to a bigger gap between brain age and chronological age.

A newly devised ‘brain clock’ can determine whether a person’s brain is ageing faster than their chronological age would suggest1. Brains age faster in women, countries with more inequality and Latin American countries, the clock indicates.

“The way your brain ages, it’s not just about years. It’s about where you live, what you do, your socio-economic level, the level of pollution you have in your environment,” says Agustín Ibáñez, the study’s lead author and a neuroscientist at Adolfo Ibáñez University in Santiago. “Any country that wants to invest in the brain health of the people, they need to address structural inequalities.”

The work is “truly impressive”, says neuroscientist Vladimir Hachinski at Western University in London, Canada, who was not involved in the study. It was published on 26 August in Nature Medicine.

Read all here.