Scales and a measuring tape can predict future illness better than expensive biological age tests
Traditional disease risk factors that are inexpensive and easy to measure, such as body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, smoking and alcohol consumption, outperform biological age tests based on epigenetics as predictors of future disease, finds a study conducted at Tampere University.
A recent study conducted at Tampere University has found that traditional measures like body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, smoking and alcohol consumption are better predictors of future illness than expensive epigenetic age tests. Epigenetic clocks, which estimate biological age, have been marketed to consumers, but the research reveals that these simple, well-established risk factors perform more accurately in anticipating the onset of chronic diseases among middle-aged adults.
The study, led by Saara Marttila and first author Daria Kostiniuk, analyzed data from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study involving 1,108 participants aged 34 to 49, none of whom had chronic diseases at the beginning. Over a period of 7-9 years, they discovered that the statistical model based on BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, smoking and alcohol consumption outperformed all analyzed epigenetic clocks in predicting future disease.
Despite their marketing claims, epigenetic tests are not necessarily superior predictors; instead, they may provide additional information that could be better obtained from established risk factors like lifestyle and health behaviors.
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