How old will I be?
Five blood markers show how your life expectancy really is
Created: 06/30/2022, 10:51 am
By: Natalie Hull Drawbar
Some people would be very interested to know what age they will reach one day.
Thanks to precise methods with biomarkers, this is now possible.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, the average
life expectancy in Germany
for newborn
boys is currently 78.6 years and
for newborn
girls as much as 83.4 years
.
How old a person is expected to be depends heavily on their
lifestyle
, eating habits and external factors such as stress,
genetic predisposition
and
socio-economic factors
.
With the help of a new method from scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg and a study, the expected age of a person can now be predicted fairly accurately.
How old will I be?
Five blood markers improve prediction
Certain biomarkers in human blood can depict the biological aging process.
(Iconic image) © Henrik Dolle/Imago
It has been scientifically and medically proven
that an
unhealthy lifestyle causes people to age faster and possibly die earlier.
It is also already known that
healthy
people live
up to 17 years longer
than people who lead an unhealthy life.
However, what biological
age
a person ultimately reaches or could reach depends on their
hereditary disposition
and
socio-economic factors
.
Certain biomarkers in human blood can depict the biological aging process.
"We now wanted to know whether we can predict life expectancy even more precisely if we also determine suitable serum biomarkers," explains Professor Dr.
Rudolf Kaaks, epidemiologist at the DKFZ, in a press release.
How old will I be?
Biomarkers for heart and kidney function, inflammation and metabolism are relevant
Scientists validated five blood biomarkers that are closely correlated with life expectancy and are reliable and easily measurable:
Biomarker 1
“Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15)”
: indicates oxidative
stress
,
inflammation
and
mitochondrial dysfunction
.
Mitochondria are the powerhouses of human cells and convert the food we eat into usable energy.
Biomarker 2
"Cystatin C levels"
: provides information about kidney function
Biomarker 3
"NT-proBNP"
: can provide evidence of heart damage
Biomarker 4
“Glycohemoglobin HbA1c”
: an elevated level signals diabetes and unhealthy metabolism
Biomarker 5
“C-reactive protein CRP”
: indicates chronic inflammation
For 25,000 study participants, the DKFZ team determined a profile with
risk factors
that can negatively influence quality of life and lifespan:
smoking
,
body mass index
,
hip circumference
,
alcohol consumption
, physical activity,
diabetes
and
high blood pressure
.
Men whose profiles had the lowest risk factors indicated a 16.8 year longer life expectancy compared to just 9.87 years for women.
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How old will I be?
Biomarker values can motivate patients to live healthier lives
“Probable loss of life expectancy is a useful and easy-to-understand measure that doctors, for example, can use to motivate their patients to give up unhealthy habits.
It could also be used to identify people with particularly high health risks who could benefit from direct interventions," explains Dr.
Bernard Srour and first author of the DKFZ study in a press release.
"By combining lifestyle factors plus serum markers, the predictive power for life expectancy can be improved even further." (
NHD)