In 131 patients aged 65 and older, two preoperative SASP markers lined up with worse outcomes after elective heart surgery

What the research found

GeroScience published a prospective single-center cohort on 6 November 2026. Eberl, Großkopf, and colleagues at University Medicine Halle enrolled 131 patients aged 65 and older before elective cardiac surgery. They measured 19 preoperative SASP markers, the inflammatory signals tied to senescent cells, and tested 17 of them against a composite adverse outcome. That composite occurred in 21.4 percent. A secondary endpoint, major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events, occurred in 36.6 percent. Five markers were nominally linked on their own (IGFBP-1, GDF-15, TNF-RI, TNF-alpha, and IGFBP-4), and none of those five stayed significant after a false-discovery correction. After adjustment for the type of operation, IGFBP-1 (odds ratio 1.675, 95 percent CI 1.175 to 2.389) and IGFBP-4 (odds ratio 1.432, 95 percent CI 1.044 to 1.966) still lined up with the composite. That model had a corrected area under the curve of 0.746, close to EuroSCORE II at 0.727. It improved net reclassification over EuroSCORE II (NRI +0.528) and over the STS score (NRI +0.418). The authors say the markers need checking in larger outside cohorts. The abstract does not give a sex split. This is not a treatment trial. DOI 10.1007/s11357-026-02626-9. Not medical advice.

Evidence level: Human study. A study in people, but an association isn't proof of cause.

Read the original at GeroScience