AgeML: Age modelling with Machine Learning

ageml is a Python package for Age Modelling with Machine Learning made easy.

Description

ageml allows age modelling with a set of simple-to-use CLIs that produce comprehensive figures of the modelling steps and detailed logs for exploring the effectiveness of the trained models.

There are 4 main CLIs:

• model_age: Trains a model to predict chronological age from features, with optional categorical and system-based covariates, and outputs predicted ages, age deltas, correlation analysis, and distribution plots.
• factor_correlation: Analyzes the correlation between provided factors and age deltas, including significance, with optional stratification by clinical category.
• clinical_groups: Generates boxplots and age distribution plots to visualize age delta differences across clinical groups.
• clinical_classify: Performs classification between two clinical groups using features and age deltas, outputting ROC curves for each model.

There are also 2 extra CLIs:

• model_feature_influence : Analyzes the effect of different feature selection methods when creating deltas that will be used as input in classification tasks.
• age_model_vs_logistic_regression: Compares the use of deltas for classification to using the features directly in a logistic regressor.

How to use ageml

A comprehensive, step by step tutorial of the tool can be found here. You can also tinker around with our getting started Colab notebook if you want a more interactive experience.

For more indepth discussion on methods see the publication AgeML: Age modelling with Machine Learning

How to cite

If you use ageml in your work, please cite the all-time:

J. Garcia Condado, I. Tellaetxe Elorriaga, J. M. Cortes and A. Erramuzpe, "AgeML: Age modeling with Machine Learning," in IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics, doi: 10.1109/JBHI.2025.3531017.

@article{AgeML,
  title = {{{AgeML}}: {{Age}} Modeling with {{Machine Learning}}},
  shorttitle = {{{AgeML}}},
  author = {Garcia Condado, Jorge and Tellaetxe Elorriaga, Iñigo and Cortes, Jesus M. and Erramuzpe, Asier},
  date = {2025},
  journaltitle = {IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics},
  shortjournal = {IEEE J. Biomed. Health Inform.},
  pages = {1--11},
  issn = {2168-2194, 2168-2208},
  doi = {10.1109/JBHI.2025.3531017},
  url = {https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10844538/},
  urldate = {2025-01-29}
}

If you also used model_feature_influence or age_model_vs_logistic_regression please cite:

J. Garcia Condado, I. Verdugo Recuero, I. Tellaetxe Elorriaga, C. Birkhenbihl, M. Carrigan, R. Buckley, A. Erramuzpe and J. M. Cortes, "Aging as an active player in Alzheimer's Disease Classification: Insights from feature selection in BrainAge Models," in MedrXiv, doi: 10.1101/2025.04.16.25325953

@article {AgeingBrainAgeAlzheimer,
	title = {Aging as an active player in Alzheimer's Disease Classification: Insights from feature selection in BrainAge Models},
	author = {Garcia Condado, Jorge and Verdugo Recuero, Ines and Elorriaga Tellaetxe, Iñigo and Birkhenbil, Colin and Carrigan, Maria and Diez, Ibai and Buckley, Rachel F and Erramuzpe, Asier and Cortes, Jesus M and the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative},
	year = {2025},
	doi = {10.1101/2025.04.16.25325953},
	journal = {medRxiv}
}

How to install ageml

Using pip (recommended)

From your terminal, for basic installation, run: pip install ageml

Cloning from Github

Note that ageml is under active development, but still not continuously deployed, so the latest version might not be available in PyPI. If you want to use the latest version, you can clone the repository and install it locally.

From your terminal, run: git clone https://github.com/compneurobilbao/ageml.git Then cd into the ageml folder, and install with pip:pip install .

Docker

There are two Dockerfiles available for ageml.

• One that installs ageml from pip -> ./Dockerfile
• Another one for the latest version of ageml, which installs it from the GitHub repo main branch.

To build the pip image, run: docker build -t ageml:pip -f Dockerfile <path_to_directory_containing_Dockerfile> To build the latest image, run: docker build -t ageml:latest -f Dockerfile <path_to_directory_containing_Dockerfile>

To run the container, run: docker run -it ageml:<tag_of_your_image>

A developer Dockerfile will be available in the future for contributing to the project in a containerized fashion.

Developer installation

The developer installation is described in the contribution guidelines.

How to Contribute to the project

We welcome scientists and developers who want to standardize the procedures of age modelling, share pretrained models or whatever other kind of contribution that can help the project.

The contribution guidelines can be found here.

License

This project is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.