{
  "id": 7855878,
  "title": "AI estimates retinal age, revealing sex-specific aging patterns and links to disease risk",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/16/ai-estimates-retinal-age-revealing-sex-specific-aging-patterns-and",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-16T19:40:08.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Medical Xpress",
    "slug": "medical-xpress",
    "url": "https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-ai-retinal-age-revealing-sex.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Researchers at the University of Lausanne have created an artificial intelligence model that can determine a person's biological age by analyzing a simple photograph of the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. The AI model, called RETFound, was trained on images from over 70,000 participants in the UK Biobank study, aged 40 to 79. By comparing the estimated retinal age with the actual age, researchers identified a key difference known as the \"retinal age gap.\"\n\nThis retinal age gap has been linked to various health risks, including cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, cancer, dementia, and death within the next 15 years. The study found that men's retinal aging is more strongly associated with metabolic syndrome factors like high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, and obesity. In contrast, women's retinal aging is more closely tied to vascular factors, such as an increased risk of thrombosis, which was not observed in men. Interestingly, the study also revealed that women's retinal aging changes significantly around menopause, with a higher retinal age and poorer health profile compared to before menopause. While the study does not establish a direct cause-and-effect relationship between menopause and retinal aging, it suggests a possible connection to the hormonal and vascular changes that occur during this transition.",
  "summary": "A team from the Department of Computational Biology at the University of Lausanne has developed an artificial intelligence model capable of estimating a person's retinal age from a simple photograph of the back of the eye. This measure provides information about health and the future risk of developing age-related diseases.",
  "key_points": [
    "AI model RETFound estimates biological age from retinal photos",
    "Retinal age gap linked to health risks like cardiovascular disease",
    "Women's retinal aging more tied to vascular factors, changes post-menopause"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}