Researchers introduce EHR-AGE, a measure of biological age derived from routinely collected electronic health record data rather than specialized biomarker assays. The approach uses diagnostic and medical history information already present in clinical records to estimate how far an individual's physiological aging has diverged from chronological age. Because the underlying data are generated during ordinary care, the metric can be applied retrospectively and at population scale.
Key Points
- Biological age estimated from routine medical history, not specialized assays
- Existing clinical records enable population-scale aging assessment retrospectively
- Divergence from chronological age flags accelerated physiological decline
Longevity Analysis
Most aging clocks require dedicated blood draws, methylation arrays, or proteomic panels that remain inaccessible outside research settings and well-resourced clinics. Deriving an aging signal from the diagnostic record shifts the measurement burden to data that already exist, making it feasible to identify accelerated decline in patients who would never seek out a longevity workup. The value lies in interpretation: an aging estimate built from accumulated diagnoses reflects the cumulative load across circulation, immune defense, metabolic energy production, and repair capacity, and it becomes actionable only when clinicians use it to trace which of those contributions is driving the gap and intervene while the trajectory is still modifiable.
Original published by Nature - npj Aging, by Iván Fejes.