Longevity & AgingYour Thymus Keeps Protecting You Into Old Age — and AI Can Now Measure How Well
Researchers developed an AI system to quantify thymic health from routine CT scans and applied it to over 27,000 adults across two large cohorts. They found that individuals with higher thymic health lived longer, had lower rates of lung cancer incidence, and experienced less cardiovascular mortality over 12 years of follow-up. Thymic health also tracked with systemic inflammation and metabolic markers, and was measurably worse in smokers, obese individuals, and those with low physical activity. These findings challenge the long-held belief that the thymus becomes irrelevant after childhood, repositioning it as an ongoing regulator of immune-mediated ageing that may be targetable through lifestyle changes or regenerative therapies.
