Researchers have developed an AI algorithm to predict the biological age of the heart using ECG data. This tool can help identify individuals at higher risk of cardiovascular events and mortality. MUMBAI: While everybody’s heart has an absolute chronological age (as old as that person is), hearts also have a theoretical ‘biological’ age that is based on how the heart functions.
Someone who is 50 but has poor heart health could have a biological heart age of 60, while someone of 50 with optimal heart health could have a biological heart age of 40. Researchers presenting a new study at the just concluded EHRA 2025, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), demonstrated that by using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse standard 12-lead electrocardiograph (ECG)2 data taken from almost half a million cases, they were able to create an algorithm to predict the biological age of the heart. This algorithm could be used to identify those most at risk of cardiovascular events and mortality.
“Our research showed that when the biological age of the heart exceeded its chronological age by seven years, the risk of all-cause mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events increased sharply,” explains associate professor Yong-Soo Baek, Inha University Hospital, in South Korea. “Conversely, if the algorithm estimated the biological heart as seven years younger than the chronological age, that reduced the risk of death and major adverse cardiovascular.
