American researchers have studied 128 parts of the brain of 30,000 people aged 9 months to 105 years to understand the trajectories of aging.
It’s a very large study that American scientists have just carried out: the analysis, using medical imagery, of more than 62,454 scans of the brain of 30,000 individuals aged from 9 months to 105 years! This study used single-photon emission tomography (TEMP) medical imaging) to try to understand the trajectories of aging in the brain and the common brain disorders determining an abnormally accelerated aging.
128 brain regions analyzed
Researchers from different clinics and universities on the West Coast studied 128 parts of the brain to determine, using scans, the patient’s age (biological age) and then be able to compare it to his real age (chronological age). The difference between the two ages then made it possible to assess a potential for accelerated aging. Doctors examined neuroimaging scans of patients at a large psychiatric clinic, who presented with various psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or attention deficit disorder.
For George Perry, PhD, Chief Scientist of the Brain Health Consortium at the University of Texas at San Antonio : “This is one of the first population-based imaging studies, essential to answer the question of brain structure and function during aging. The impact of modifiable and non-modifiable factors in brain aging will be useful for understanding how to maintain cognitive functions “.
Cannabis, Alcohol, and Certain Mental Illnesses Promote Premature Brain Aging
Among the causes that can promote an accelerated aging of chronological age, we find first of all psychological disorders. Thus, we see in schizophrenics a premature aging of 4 years, the bipolar disorder exposes him to an acceleration of aging of 1.6 years while we speak of an aging of 1.4 years for the deficit disorder of l ‘Warning.
– Dr. Daniel Amen (@DocAmen) Aug 22, 2018
Other behaviors are also implicated in premature aging such as alcohol abuse (0.6 years) or cannabis (2.8 years). The psychiatrist and lead author of this study, Daniel G. Amen, said “that better treatment of these disorders can slow or even stop the aging process of the brain.”
He also states that “the discovery of cannabis abuse was particularly important as our culture is beginning to view marijuana as a harmless substance.” For him “This study should encourage reflection on this subject …” Indeed, while more and more countries legalize the therapeutic use of cannabis, its harmful effects on the brain remain real.
.
