Association of biological age markers with stroke prevalence: Insights from a cross-sectional study.

Both PhenoAge and BioAge were significantly associated with stroke risk in a cross-sectional analysis of 37,832 NHANES participants.

• BioAge association with stroke: OR 1.01, 95% CI 1.00-1.01, p = 0.003
• PhenoAge association with stroke: OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.03-1.06, p < 0.001
• Data drawn from NHANES 1999-2018 with 37,832 participants after exclusion of those with incomplete data
• Stroke was self-reported and biological ageing markers were calculated using established algorithms

Accelerated biological ageing (both PhenoAgeAccel and BioAgeAccel) significantly increased stroke risk.

• BioAgeAccel: OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.15-1.58, p < 0.001
• PhenoAgeAccel: OR 1.60, 95% CI 1.38-1.85, p < 0.001
• Biological age accelerations represented the difference between biological and chronological age
• PhenoAgeAccel showed a stronger association with stroke risk than BioAgeAccel

PhenoAge showed the highest discrimination for stroke among the biological age markers examined.

• PhenoAge area under the curve (AUC) = 0.80 for stroke discrimination
• This was the highest AUC among the biological ageing markers tested
• AUC was used as the metric for assessing discriminative ability for stroke prevalence

Accelerated biological ageing predicted higher all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in stroke patients.

• PhenoAgeAccel was associated with all-cause mortality: HR = 3.18, 95% CI 2.91-3.48, p < 0.001
• Mortality data were obtained from the NHANES linked mortality file
• Both all-cause and cardiovascular mortality outcomes were assessed

Stroke patients in the study sample were predominantly older, male, and more likely to be White.

• These demographic characteristics were observed among the stroke prevalence group within the 37,832-participant NHANES sample
• The study covered NHANES data from 1999 to 2018
• Participants with incomplete data were excluded from analyses