Personalized score uses ten blood markers to flag disease risk and assess healthy aging
Studies conducted in various countries indicate that approximately 60% of people over age 65 currently live with two or more chronic conditions. With the aim of reversing this trend and promoting healthy aging, European researchers have created a new personalized indicator that provides a detailed snapshot of a patient's metabolism by analyzing, with high precision, the chemicals the body…
A personalized health indicator, developed by European researchers, uses ten blood markers to assess disease risk and healthy aging. The tool, presented at FAPESP Week Netherlands, analyzes chemicals in the body to gauge metabolic function and predict longevity. The indicator's development was influenced by variations in healthy life expectancy across Europe, with Romania reporting about four years and the Netherlands around ten.
Initially, researchers identified substances in blood samples from 44,000 European volunteers that indicated higher mortality risk. The tool underwent three iterations: mathematical adjustment using Dutch data, simplification to just 10 blood markers, and reversal of the score logic so that higher numbers indicate better health.
The updated version predicts cardiometabolic diseases more accurately, with a one-point increase corresponding to a 14-year delay in disease onset. Lifestyle changes and exercise can significantly improve the score for individuals with lower initial scores, indicating they are more at risk. The metabolic score is 40% hereditary and 60% influenced by lifestyle and environmental factors.
Smoking and lack of physical activity negatively impact the score, while regular exercise improves it. Additionally, research from the Federal University of São Carlos in Brazil demonstrates that musculoskeletal aging and dementia are interconnected through molecular communication between muscle, bone, fat, and brain tissues.
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