New research out of Iceland from deCODE genetics, a subsidiary of biotechnology company Amgen, has discovered that a protein profile, which can be obtained from a single blood draw, can predict time of death in a way that outperforms other predictors that are based on multiple known risk factors.
In a paper published June 18 in research publication, Communications Biology, scientists describe how they developed a new way of predicting how much time a person has left to live.
Using a dataset of 5,000 protein measurements in 22,914 Icelanders, 7,061 of whom died during the study period, the scientists say they have developed a predictor that can identify the five per cent at the highest risk of death in a group between 60 and 80 years of age, where 88 per cent died within 10 years. The research also suggests scientists can also identify the five per cent at the lowest risk of death, where only one per cent died within 10 years.
“The scientists explored how individual proteins associate with mortality and various causes of death and found most causes of death to have similar protein profiles. In particular, they found growth/differentiation factor 15, associated with mortality and aging before, to be an important predictor of all-cause mortality,” they write. “The predictor gives a good estimate of general health from a single blood draw.”
