How long you have left may be in your blood biomarkers

14 biomarkers in the blood pinpointed in a new study could help better forecast how long middle-aged patients have to live.

It could predict patients' risks in the next 5 to 10 years, which means medics could offer more tailored treatment for people aged over 60.

Signs used now to predict mortality, such as systolic blood pressure and total cholesterol, only show links in people over 85.

The research, published in Nature Communications, profiled blood from 44,168 people. It found the combination of biomarkers—tell-tale blood measures revealing processes, such as inflammation—flagged up the risk equally well in men and women.

"These are observational associations of potential clinical importance," said Dr. Fotios Drenos at Brunel University London, one of the team. "But we are still uncertain which of these biomarkers are signs, and which are causes of future risk of death.

"There's a hope that in the near future we can understand the biomarkers that can be modified, perhaps by helping people improve their lifestyle or through medication, to lower the risk of death before a significant deterioration of health."

Patients could have a risk score based on their levels of the 14 biomarkers to guide treatment strategies, suggests the studyled by Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands.

More information:
Joris Deelen et al. A metabolic profile of all-cause mortality risk identified in an observational study of 44,168 individuals, Nature Communications (2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11311-9

Provided by Brunel University