A combined analysis of lifestyle factors and five blood serum markers is highly predictive of life expectancy. This has already been proven by scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ/Heidelberg). Less healthy lifestyle and unfavorable blood values statistically lead to an almost 23-year shorter life expectancy in men.
Health prevention makes people live longer
A few years ago, scientists at the German research institute proved that people who follow all the recommendations for health prevention live up to 17 years longer than their contemporaries with very unhealthy lifestyle habits. Now, experts have tried to make these results even more accurate, taking into account certain blood serum markers.
“Now we wanted to know if we can predict life expectancy even more accurately if we also determine suitable serum biomarkers,” Rudolf Kaaks, an epidemiologist at the DKFZ, said in a press release.
For this, five blood values were selected that can be easily determined by laboratory tests: growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) indicates oxidative stress, inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction, the level of cystatin C indicates renal function and NT-proBNP indicates heart damage. Elevated levels of the so-called HbA1c signal diabetes and unhealthy metabolism, the C-reactive protein CRP is a marker of systemic inflammation.
For the current study, DKFZ epidemiologists were able to access blood samples from participants in the Heidelberg EPIC study. DKFZ has been involved in this pan-European study on the connection between nutrition, lifestyle factors and cancer for over 20 years. The Heidelberg EPIC cohort includes more than 25,000 middle-aged to elderly participants. 2,571 participants died by the end of the follow-up period (2014).
minor in women
The scientists determined a profile of lifestyle-related risk factors (smoking, body mass index/BMI, hip circumference, alcohol consumption, physical activity, diabetes, high blood pressure) for all study participants. “If the researchers only took this profile into account, the life expectancy of men with the best profile was 16.8 years longer than that of study participants with the most unhealthy lifestyles. For women, this difference was of only 9.87 years old,” wrote the DKFZ.
If serum markers are taken into account in addition to lifestyle, there was a difference of 22.7 years of life between men with the most unfavorable values compared to the most favorable group. For study participants, this difference was 14 years. In addition to the fact that the results of such studies may help to develop future prevention strategies, this may also have educational health value.
“Probable loss of life expectancy is a useful and easy-to-understand measure that clinicians, for example, can use to motivate their patients to abandon unhealthy habits of direct interventions,” explained the study’s lead author, Bernard Srour.