Estimating brain age using high-resolution pattern recognition: Younger brains in long-term meditation practitioners
Estimating brain age using high-resolution pattern recognition: Younger brains in long-term meditation practitioners
复制标题
DOI：
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.04.007
复制
发表时间：
2016-07-01
期刊：
影响因子：
5.7
通讯作者：
Gaser, Christian
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Luders, Eileen;Cherbuin, Nicolas;Gaser, Christian
众所周知，正常衰老伴随着大脑物质的损失。本研究旨在检验冥想练习是否与大脑年龄减少有关。特别关注的是五十岁及以上，因为众所周知，中年是衰老过程变得更加突出的时期。我们应用了一种最近开发的机器学习算法，该算法经过训练可以识别大脑中年龄的解剖相关性，并将其转化为一个分数：BrainAGE 指数（以年为单位）。使用这种基于高维模式识别的经过验证的方法，我们重新分析了 50 名长期冥想者和 50 名对照受试者的大样本，估计和比较了他们的大脑年龄。我们观察到，在 50 岁时，冥想者的大脑估计比对照组年轻 7.5 岁。此外，我们还检查了大脑年龄估计是否会随着年龄的增长而变化。虽然对照组的大脑年龄估计值变化不大，但冥想者的大脑年龄却发生了显着变化：超过 50 岁每增加一岁，冥想者的大脑就会比实际年龄年轻 1 个月零 22 天。总而言之，这些发现似乎表明冥想有益于大脑保护，有效防止与年龄相关的萎缩，并在一生中始终减缓大脑衰老速度。 (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. 保留所有权利。
Normal aging is known to be accompanied by loss of brain substance. The present study was designed to examine whether the practice of meditation is associated with a reduced brain age. Specific focus was directed at age fifty and beyond, as mid-life is a time when aging processes are known to become more prominent. We applied a recently developed machine learning algorithm trained to identify anatomical correlates of age in the brain translating those into one single score: the BrainAGE index (in years). Using this validated approach based on high-dimensional pattern recognition, we re-analyzed a large sample of 50 long-term meditators and 50 control subjects estimating and comparing their brain ages. We observed that, at age fifty, brains of meditators were estimated to be 7.5 years younger than those of controls. In addition, we examined if the brain age estimates change with increasing age. While brain age estimates varied only little in controls, significant changes were detected in meditators: for every additional year over fifty, meditators' brains were estimated to be an additional 1 month and 22 days younger than their chronological age. Altogether, these findings seem to suggest that meditation is beneficial for brain preservation, effectively protecting against age-related atrophy with a consistently slower rate of brain aging throughout life. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.