Overview
- In a cohort of 27,612 initially healthy adults followed for about 12 years, higher thymus scores were associated with roughly 50% lower all-cause mortality.
- Disease-specific mortality fell with better thymus health, including lung cancer (about 36% lower), other pulmonary diseases (61%), cardiovascular causes (63%), metabolic diseases (68%) and digestive causes (54%).
- Among 3,476 patients treated with cancer immunotherapy, healthier thymus status predicted a 37% lower risk of progression and a 44% lower risk of death post-treatment.
- The deep-learning model evaluated thymic size, shape and fatty involution on standard CT scans, enabling large-scale, noninvasive estimation of an immune-related biomarker.
- Thymus health was better in women and physically active people and worse with obesity and smoking, and researchers call for validated clinical assays since no routine test is available yet.