AI Identifies Biomarker for Chronic Stress on Standard Medical Images
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Researchers have used a deep learning artificial intelligence model to identify what they describe as the first biomarker of chronic stress that can be directly seen on standard medical images. The findings are being presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Chronic stress does not just affect mood. it can influence both physical and mental health, contributing to problems such as anxiety, trouble sleeping, muscle pain, high blood pressure and a less effective immune system, according to the American Psychological Association. Studies have also linked ongoing stress to major conditions including heart disease, depression and obesity.
AI measures adrenal glands on routine CT scans
The study’s lead author, Elena Ghotbi, M.D., a postdoctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, created and trained a deep learning tool designed to calculate the size of the adrenal glands using CT scans that had already been performed.
Each year, tens of millions of chest CT scans are performed in the United States alone.
“Our approach leverages widely available imaging data and opens the door to large-scale evaluations of the biological impact of chronic stress across a range of conditions using existing chest CT scans,” Dr. Ghotbi said. “This AI-driven biomarker has the potential to enhance cardiovascular risk stratification and guide preventive care without additional testing or radiation.”
Making the burden of stress visible in the body
Senior author Shadpour Demehri, M.D., professor of radiology at Johns Hopkins, noted that chronic stress is extremely common and is something many adults experiance every day.
“For the first time, we can ‘see’ the long-term burden of stress inside the body, using a scan that patients already get every day in hospitals across the country. Until now, we haven’t had a way to measure and quantify the cumulative effects of chronic stress, other than questionnaires, surrogate serum markers like chronic inflammation, and cortisol measurement, which is very cumbersome to obtain.” Dr. Demehri said.
unlike a single cortisol test, which reflects stress at just one point in time, the size of the adrenal glands functions more like a long-term gauge of chronic stress.
large multi-ethnic cohort links imaging, hormones and stress load
In this research, the team analyzed information from 2,842 participants (mean age 69.3; 51% women) enrolled