What this means
Biological aging, the decline in physiological resilience that increases our vulnerability to disease and death as we grow older, can be measured from standard clinical-laboratory panels. Measurement of biological aging from laboratory data embedded in electronic health records (EHRs) could enhance precision healthcare.
A plain-English summary is on its way. Until then, this is the start of the authors' own summary.
- Who it was tested in
- Not stated
- Kind of research
- Early results, not yet checked by other scientists
The science
- Original title
- Biological aging measured from electronic health records is associated with recovery following cardiothoracic surgery
- Authors
- Ryan, C. P., Jung, J., Kurlansky, P. A. et al.
- Journal
- medRxiv (preprint, not yet peer reviewed)
- Published
- Oct 19, 2026
- Study type
- Preprint
Abstract
Biological aging, the decline in physiological resilience that increases our vulnerability to disease and death as we grow older, can be measured from standard clinical-laboratory panels. Measurement of biological aging from laboratory data embedded in electronic health records (EHRs) could enhance precision healthcare. However, suitability of EHR-embedded laboratory records for this purpose is uncertain. We evaluated feasibility of EHR biological age measurement in a cohort of n=4,313 cardiothoracic-surgery patients at a large US Hospital and tested whether measured biological aging was associated with patient outcomes. Patients who were biologically older prior to surgery more often died or experienced adverse outcomes as compared to those measured to be biologically younger. Postoperative biological-aging trajectories were associated with length of intensive-care-unit (ICU) stays and in-hospital death. EHR laboratory data provide an opportunity for scalable implementation of biological aging measurement within healthcare systems, with potential to enhance patient monitoring and risk stratification.
Ryan, C. P., Jung, J., Kurlansky, P. A. et al. Biological aging measured from electronic health records is associated with recovery following cardiothoracic surgery. medRxiv. 2026. doi:10.64898/2026.10.16.26365756. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.10.16.26365756