A routine chest CT scan, the kind millions of Americans get every year for unrelated reasons, may already hold a hidden record of years of grinding stress on the body.
Quick Take
- Johns Hopkins and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) researchers built an AI tool that measures adrenal gland size on routine chest CT scans.
- The new measurement, called the Adrenal Volume Index, tracked closely with stress hormone levels in the blood.
- Higher scores predicted greater risk of heart failure and death over years of follow-up in 2,842 adults.
- Researchers unveiled the findings at the Radiological Society of North America’s 2025 annual meeting in Chicago.
A New Way to Read an Old Scan
Doctors order chest CT scans all the time to check lungs, hearts, and chests for unrelated problems. Dr. Elena Ghotbi, a postdoctoral researcher at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, saw an opportunity buried in those images. She trained a deep learning model to measure adrenal gland size automatically from scans patients had already gotten for other reasons.
That single design choice matters. It means the biomarker does not require a new test, a new scan, or a new visit. It rides along on imaging doctors are already collecting, turning old data into a fresh window on a patient’s stress history.
Why Adrenal Size Reveals Chronic Stress
The adrenal glands sit above the kidneys and pump out cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone, whenever the body senses danger or pressure. A single cortisol blood test only captures one moment in time. Researchers say adrenal volume works differently, reflecting cumulative exposure to stress built up over months or years.
That distinction is the heart of the claim. Chronic stress can quietly damage blood vessels and the heart over time, and doctors have long lacked a reliable, objective way to measure how much stress a person’s body has actually absorbed rather than how much they report feeling.
The Numbers Behind the Warning
Researchers followed 2,842 adults and compared their Adrenal Volume Index scores against perceived stress, cortisol levels, and heart health. Participants with high perceived stress had adrenal volume readings 0.23 cubic centimeters per square meter higher than those with low stress. Higher scores also lined up with heavier heart muscle mass, a known warning sign for future heart trouble.
Each one-unit increase in the index tracked with a higher risk of developing heart failure and a higher risk of death during follow-up. Researchers also found links between higher scores and greater circulating cortisol, peak cortisol, and allostatic load, a broader measure of wear and tear on the body from repeated stress.
From a Hopkins Lab to a Chicago Stage
The team presented its work at the Radiological Society of North America’s annual meeting in Chicago, drawing attention from radiology and cardiology researchers watching for new tools that catch heart disease earlier. The pitch is straightforward: give doctors an objective stress score pulled from a scan they already have, instead of relying only on a patient’s own description of how stressed they feel.
That kind of objective measure could reshape how doctors flag high-risk patients long before a heart attack or diagnosis of heart failure ever shows up. It also fits a broader shift in medicine toward mining existing data for early warning signs rather than ordering more tests.
What Still Needs to Happen Before Doctors Use It
Like most new AI biomarkers, this one still needs testing on larger, more varied groups of patients at other hospitals before it becomes a standard part of checkups. That is a normal next step for any promising medical finding, not a mark against the research already done.
For readers tired of government mandates and one-size-fits-all health policy, this kind of tool is worth watching. It hands doctors and patients sharper, individualized information instead of blanket guidelines, letting people take real ownership of their own heart health based on their own data.
Stress has always been hard to measure and easy to dismiss. If this biomarker holds up in wider testing, it could turn a vague complaint into a number doctors and patients can actually track and act on.
Sources:
sciencedaily.com, rsna.org, medicalxpress.com, jnm.snmjournals.org, academic.oup.com
