The tried and true science of living longer | Ami Bhatt | TEDxBoston

Quick Overview

The race to develop longevity drugs, which involves academics, investors, and dreamers, is currently focused on using Artificial Intelligence to analyze ECG data to provide personalized biological age estimations, with the goal of finding a cure for aging, which the speaker suggests is the biggest contributor to cardiovascular disease.

Key Points: Physicians, upon becoming doctors, often recite the modern Hippocratic Oath, which implies caring for patients rather than trying to bend the universe or extend lifespan indefinitely. The race to develop longevity drugs involves academics, investors, and dreamers, with billions of dollars invested since 2020, focusing research on DNA, mitochondria, and cellular communication. Cardiovascular health is the single greatest predictor of life expectancy, with optimal heart health by age 50 adding 14 additional years of life and reducing early death risk by 87%. The speaker advocates for reframing risk factor management: instead of focusing on treating conditions like high blood pressure, the focus should be on managing the underlying aging process itself. AI research is currently training neural networks on ECG data to provide an estimate of one's biological age, which the speaker suggests is a more actionable metric than traditional risk factors. The speaker's personal goal is to be around for her two teenage daughters for as long as possible, motivating her work in longevity. The speaker used her own data (age 34, family history of heart disease) to show how an ECG-based algorithm estimated her biological age as 44, demonstrating the immediate feedback potential of these new metrics.

Context: Dr. Ami Bhatt, Chief Innovation Officer at the American College of Cardiology and Chair of the FDA Digital Health Advisory Committee, delivers a TEDxBoston talk titled "Prescribing Time: The race to develop longevity drugs." She contrasts the traditional medical focus on treating symptoms (like high blood pressure) with the emerging field of longevity science, which aims to slow or reverse aging itself, using examples like AI-driven ECG analysis to measure biological age as a key metric.