AI-based investigation of molecular biomarkers of longevity

In this paper, I build deep neural networks of various structures and hyperparameters in order to predict human chronological age based on open-access biochemical indicators and their specifications from the NHANES database. In total, 1152 neural networks are trained and tested. The algorithms are trained and tested on incomplete data: missing values in data records are extrapolated by mean or median values for each parameter. I select the best neural networks in terms of validation accuracy (coefficient of determination and mean absolute error). It turns out that the most accurate results are delivered by multilayer networks (6 layers) with recurrent layers. Neural network types are selected by trial and error. The algorithms reached an accuracy of 78% in terms of coefficient of determination and 6.5 in terms of mean absolute error. I also list empirically determined features of neural networks that increase accuracy for the task of chronological age prediction. Obtained results can be considered as an approximation of human biological age. Parameters in training datasets are selected the most broadly: all potentially relevant parameters (926) from the NHANES database are used. Although the networks are trained on the incomplete data, they demonstrated the ability to make reasonable predictions (with R² > 0.7) based on no more than 100 biochemical indicators. Hence, for practical reasons the full data on each of 926 indicators are not required, although the analysis of the impact of each indicator is useful for theoretical developments.