Slashdot Mirror
Blood Test of 4 Biomarkers Predicts Death Within 5 Years
retroworks writes "The NHS and the Daily Telegraph report on two studies (original and repeat duplicating results) in Estonia and Finland which predict whether an apparently healthy human will likely die within 5 years. The four biomarkers that appeared to determine risk of mortality in the next five years were: alpha-1-acid glycoprotein – a protein that is raised during infection and inflammation; albumin – a protein that carries vital nutrients, hormones and proteins in the bloodstream; very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) particle size – usually known for being 'very bad' cholesterol; and citrate – a compound that is an essential part of the body's metabolism. Researchers found that people in the top 20% of the summary score range were 19 times more at risk of dying in the next five years than people in the lowest 20%."
The NHS's summary of the news points out that "the implications of such a test are unclear. As this was an observational study, it can only show an association between the biomarkers and risk of death. It does not predict what the underlying cause of death would be for an individual and does not therefore provide an answer in terms of treatment."
Cause "lifestyle choices" are why we all get sick and die? Really?
News Flash: Everyone dies.
While you can certainly make poor lifestyle choices that increase your risk, you can also make all the 'correct' choices, cut yourself while doing your healthy outdoor activities on something stupid, get flesh eating bacteria, and die.
They are not saying "these activities" are high risk, but "these compounds that everyone has and fluctuate for a variety of reasons not all controlled by the individual" indicate risk. It's like saying something like "white people have a higher risk of this fatal disease (let's say... skin cancer) so lets drop all white people and tell them well, you should have known better than to be white".
That's not compassionate, that's just stupid. No way we should be "insuring" people who are going to die within 5 years. Or at least not calling it "insurance", since it's not ensuring the person won't die. Call it end-of-life welfare, or terminal socialism, or something more accurate like that. My suspicion is it will make the Death Panels that the Republicans complained about a stark reality.
Also, can you imagine the havoc this could wreak with people trying to go out with a bang and spending their life savings and settling old scores before they kick it? And the lawsuits that could be flying around after people spend all their money after false positives?