RetinaAge / fundus-based age clock

RetinaAge is a biological-age clock built from retinal fundus photographs. A deep-learning model is trained to predict your age from the features of your optic disc, fovea, and retinal blood vessels. Zhu and colleagues published it (2022, British Journal of Ophthalmology). They trained the model on fundus images from healthy UK Biobank participants, then applied it to the wider cohort (about 80,000 images, 46,000 people). The gap between your predicted retinal age and your real age independently predicted death from all causes. A related analysis from the same team (Zhu et al., 2022, Stroke) linked the gap to stiffer arteries and new cardiovascular disease. Why the eye? The retina shares its embryonic origin with the brain. And it is the only place where you can image tiny blood vessels non-invasively. That makes it a practical window onto your whole-body and brain vascular aging.

Last reviewed: June 22, 2026

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