This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Studies conducted in various countries indicate that approximately 60% of people over age 65 currently live with two or more chronic conditions. With the aim of reversing this trend and promoting healthy aging, European researchers have created a new personalized indicator that provides a detailed snapshot of a patient's metabolism by analyzing, with high precision, the chemicals the body produces to function.

Presented during FAPESP Week Netherlands by Joris Deelen of Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), the indicator serves as a general marker of health in middle age, enabling the early identification of those on a healthy aging trajectory and those at higher risk of functional decline. The initiative is particularly relevant in Europe given the wide variation in healthy life expectancy, Deelen noted.

"The length of time spent in good health after age 65 varies dramatically across Europe: In Romania, it's about four years, while in the Netherlands, it's 10 years," he said. "That disparity stems primarily from socioeconomic status, educational level, lifestyle and genetic factors."

Since it is not possible to directly measure biological aging, the team—which also included scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Aging in Cologne, Germany—decided to look for answers in the blood of 44,000 volunteers who were followed over several years in 12 studies conducted across Europe. Through detailed blood tests, they measured more than 200 substances, including fat and sugar levels and markers of inflammation.

Source link