Brain Age in Adult Patients With Early-Treated Phenylketonuria.

ABSTRACT: Structural brain alterations have been observed in individuals with phenylketonuria (PKU); however, the potential impact of PKU on brain aging remains unexplored. This study investigated brain age in adults with early-treated classical PKU compared to healthy controls. Thirty early-treated adults with classical PKU (age 19-48 years) and 59 age-, sex-, and education-comparable healthy controls underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), cognitive and mood assessment, and blood sampling. Brain age was estimated using machine learning models trained to predict brain age from MRI-derived features across the full brain, cortical lobes, or subcortical regions. The brain age gap (BAG)-the difference between brain age and chronological age-was calculated. In addition, white matter lesio

SUBMITTER: Winiger L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12913233 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature