BLOOD TEST CAN TELL IF YOU’RE GOING TO DIE IN TEN YEARS

Scientists in Germany have developed a blood test which can predict whether you will die in the next 10 years with more than 80% accuracy. (* Frankly, I’d like to die with 100% accuracy. Less chance of premature burial.) After analyzing 44,000 people, they uncovered 14 biomarkers in blood that appear to affect the risk of death. The biomarkers are associated with everything from immunity and glucose control to circulating fat and inflammation. The methodology has yet to be rolled out in a conventional blood test, but researchers hope the results could lead to a blood test that may one day be used to guide a patient’s treatment, such as assessing whether an elderly person is too frail for surgery.
* “Here, grampa… the results of your blood test are back. But first, sign this new will.”
* The unluckiest are the people who should have taken this test nine years and eleven months ago.
* This is great, because now health plans and insurance programs can kick out everyone with life-threatening test results. Thanks, science!
* How do they know I’m going to get hit by a bus in ten years?
* PHONE TOPIC: Would you want to know if you’re going to die in ten years?