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A simple blood test can detect your risk of death in the next five to ten years.
According to a new study published this week in the journal Nature Communications, Dutch scientists have examined blood samples taken from 44,168 Europeans aged between 18 and 109 from 12 generations. More than 5,500 participants died in follow-up studies.
When they examined the data, lead researcher Eline Slagboom and her team identified 14 biomarkers in the blood, independently badociated with "all-cause mortality".
These biomarkers, "involved in various processes, such as lipoprotein and fatty acid metabolism, glycolysis, fluid balance and inflammation," ultimately help to determine the death score (or risk) in the five to next ten years.
The authors of the study wrote: "Such a score could potentially be used in clinical practice to guide treatment strategies, for example to decide if an elderly person is too fragile for an invasive operation."
But to what extent can these 14 biomarkers really predict the risk of death?
To find out, scientists also compared their data with a 1997 cohort in Finland. According to data from more than 7,600 Finns (1,213 of whom died during follow-up), the 14 biomarkers initially examined expected patient deaths in the next five to ten years with an accuracy of approximately 83%, according to the 'study. This suggests that biomarkers "clearly improve the prediction of mortality risk at five and ten years compared to conventional risk factors for all ages," wrote the study authors. Conventional risk factors, such as systolic blood pressure and total cholesterol, generally have a mortality prediction accuracy of 78% to 79%.
Nevertheless, further research is certainly needed before a blood test based on the 14 biomarkers is used in a clinical setting. Given that the data used in the study come from a variety of cohorts, future efforts should focus on creating a biomarker score based on data at the individual level.
Read the full study on nature.com.
© 2019 Cox Media Group.
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