Overview
- Two Nature studies used deep learning on routine chest CTs from the National Lung Screening Trial (~25,000 participants) and the Framingham Heart Study (>2,500) to derive a continuous thymic health score.
- Higher scores were associated with roughly half the all-cause mortality over 12 years as well as reduced lung cancer incidence and lower cardiovascular mortality after adjustment for key risk factors.
- In more than 1,200 cancer patients receiving immune checkpoint therapy, stronger thymic health predicted about a 37% lower risk of progression and a 44% lower risk of death.
- Lifestyle and metabolic signals tracked with the metric, with smoking, higher body weight, low physical activity and chronic inflammation linked to poorer thymic health.
- Authors report wide variability among same-age adults and limitations from cohort composition and imaging protocols, emphasizing the observational design and the need for replication and prospective validation.