Researchers at Seoul National University have said in a study that examining the back of the eye and retina can be a quick and non-invasive method for estimating the biological age of individuals; this method uses “retinal age gap” technology and analyzes eye images to examine the possible difference between chronological age and biological age.
The researchers used about 30,000 retinal scans to train their model; the findings of this study showed that an increase in the age gap in the retina is associated with certain health-related factors, including diabetes and tobacco use.
According to the reported results, the retinal age gap was about 2.52 years higher in people with diabetes and about 0.5 years higher in smokers.
Unlike chronological age, biological age also takes into account the degree of wear and tear and changes in the body and can be influenced by factors such as genetics, environment, and lifestyle; researchers say that examining the retina could help identify some health-related changes in the future.
