Brain Care Score: A New Tool That Can Predict Age-related Eye Disease Risk

Topical insulin can be reasonably considered as an accessible option for refractory PEDs, particularly in clinical settings where other biological or regenerative therapies are unavailable, unaffordable or contraindicated. Photo: Singh SD, et al. Front Psych. 15:1373797. Click image to enlarge. The eye, and especially the aging eye, often furnishes clinicians with key information about neurological health and the brain. The reverse is also true. A metric called the Brain Care Score (BCS), recently developed by the McCance Center for Brain Health at Massachusetts General Hospital, is a novel tool for assessing brain health that includes physical, lifestyle and social-emotional factors (see figure). Higher scores on the 21-point scale indicate better brain function. In fact, studies have reported that a five-point higher baseline score was linked with a decreased incidence of dementia, stroke and depression. Baseline BCS has also shown to be highly correlated with neuroimaging markers.Currently, no study has determined whether baseline BCS is linked to the long-term incidence of age-related eye diseases. To answer this question, as well as whether these associations change with advancing age, researchers in Sichuan and Hong Kong performed a longitudinal cohort study of UK Biobank participants. They also investigated the modifying effects of age and genetic susceptibility. Their findings were published recently in Eye.A total of 382,221 participants without cataract, glaucoma or AMD at baseline were included in the study. The researchers used statistical analysis to estimate associations between baseline Brain Care Score and incident cataract, glaucoma and AMD. They used polygenic risk scores to test gene-BCS interactions.The researchers reported 44,033 cataract cases, 9,280 glaucoma cases and 6,754 AMD cases over a median follow-up period of 14.28 years. Here are the key findings:High score linked to low age-related eye disease risk. Compared with the lowest baseline BCS level, the highest was linked with a lower risk of cataract (HR: 0.89), glaucoma (HR: 0.92) and AMD (HR: 0.9).Some inverse associations were stronger in younger patients. Stronger associations of per five-unit increase in baseline score with incident cataract and glaucoma were seen in study subjects aged 40 to 50 compared to older groups.Brain Care Score linked with cataract polygenic risk score. The researchers observed significant interaction between baseline BCS and polygenic risk score for cataract but not for glaucoma or AMD.They concluded that a good baseline Brain Care Score is linked to a lower risk of developing cataract, glaucoma and AMD. They recommend further studies to explore the roles of BCS, aging and genetic susceptibility in the development of age-related eye disease studies.Click here for the journal source. Yu J, Zhang Y, Gao Y, et al. Association of baseline brain care score with the incidence of age-related eye diseases. Eye 2026. [Epub ahead of print]. This article was developed by the editorial staff in conjunction with experts in the field. In the process, AI may have been among the editorial tools used to meet the goals of human editors, who approved all content.