New blood test may predict end of life
A NEW blood test could predict if you will die in the next decade with more than 80 per cent accuracy, experts have said.
The groundbreaking test can estimate a person’s risk of early death, researchers in Germany found. And they say it could be used to warn people they do not have long to live – encouraging them to have a healthier lifestyle.
The breakthrough was made after taking blood samples from 44,168 people.
Scientists then analysed 14 factors that appear to affect the risk of death, including immunity, glucose control, inflammation and circulating fat.
Using the information collected during the trial, they were able to predict whether someone was going to die in the next two to 16 years with 83 per cent accuracy.
During the trial, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing analysed the blood of thousands of adults, with ages ranging from 18 to 109 years old.
At first they were tested on conventional factors of death, such as their BMI, blood pressure, smoking etc, and then academics used the biomarkers from the new blood test.
Dr Joris Deelen said: “It’s a marker of your current health and physical vulnerability.
“If the blood test indicates your physical vulnerability, if it tells you how long you’ll live – and your family see that and you change your lifestyle – you could live twice as long.”
Experts have called the study an “exciting step” but have emphasised that much more research is needed before one of these tests can be used in real life.
NEW: A blood test may warn how long you have to live.