A new screening technology can predict if you're at high risk of dying in five years — even if you appear perfectly healthy.
Researchers from Finland and Estonia have discovered that novel biological markers are strong indicators of dying from any disease in the near future, according to a press release from Finland's Institute for Molecular Medicine.
The scientists screened blood samples from over 17 000 generally healthy people for more than 100 different biomolecules. The volunteers were then followed for several years.
The researchers looked for measures in the blood that could reflect who had died within the following five years after the blood sample was taken. In a study published in PLOS Medicine, they described identification of four such biomarkers of death.
The identified biomarkers were albumin, alpha-1-acid glycoprotein, citrate and the size of very-low-density lipoprotein particles. Of these, albumin was the only one previously linked with mortality. All these molecules are normally present in everyone's blood, but it is the amount of these molecules that was shown to be important.
The novel biomarkers helped to detect individuals at much higher risk of dying during the five-year follow-up. The measures were independent of well-known risk factors such as age, smoking, drinking, obesity, blood pressure and cholesterol. The result did not change even when only apparently healthy persons were examined.
"What is especially interesting is that these biomarkers reflect the risk for dying from very different types of diseases such as heart disease or cancer," says Dr. Johannes Kettunen. "They seem to be signs of a general frailty in the body. Next we aim to study whether some kind of connecting factor between these biomarkers can be identified.
"We believe that in the future these measures can be used to identify people who appear healthy, but in fact have serious underlying illnesses and guide them to proper treatment. More studies are, however, needed before these findings can be implemented in clinical practice," Dr. Kettunen continued.
The discovery of these new biomarkers was possible thanks to a technology called NMR spectroscopy. This method, developed in Finland, allows screening of large amounts of blood samples in a cost-effective manner.
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