{"id":7202,"date":"2015-06-08T07:27:39","date_gmt":"2015-06-08T12:27:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/?p=7202"},"modified":"2021-08-19T10:12:04","modified_gmt":"2021-08-19T15:12:04","slug":"will-you-live-another-five-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2015\/06\/08\/will-you-live-another-five-years","title":{"rendered":"Will You Live Another Five Years?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Of course you might not want to know the answer to that. Or, having worked diligently on healthful eating and regular exercise, you may want to know if it will all pay off. Now, in a joint project between Swedish statisticians and a half million (!) volunteers in the UK, there\u2019s a simple questionnaire that provides a pretty decent guesstimate on your odds of enjoying Christmas, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Uppsala University in Sweden, between 2006 and 2010, health researchers set up a databank project called the UK Biobank (here\u2019s the full report as publish<\/a>e<\/a>d in The Lancet<\/em><\/a>). They collected data from 655 measurements of demographics, health, and lifestyle, including blood samples, bone density, family history, weight, blood pressure, and so on, from 498,103 UK volunteers aged 40 to 70. The study didn\u2019t include anyone younger than 40 because among younger people the most frequent causes of death are accidents, gunshot wounds, and suicides rather than chronic illnesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excluded from the study were those who already had major illnesses such as cancer, heart diseases, or poorly controlled diabetes, as this would alter the data. They were seeking only people with nothing specifically wrong with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mountains of data<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Having amassed a mountain of data, the researchers then tracked developing health problems, as well as any deaths, as they appeared among the half million. The project ended in 2014. At that point, statisticians reviewed everything and found, to their surprise, that a series of simple health questions could predict whether or not the volunteers where in danger of dying within five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although poor health\u2019s usual suspects–high cholesterol, obesity, and alcohol excess–continued to be significant dangers to health, the researchers had uncovered a tool to predict longevity that required no physical exams or blood tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once alerted to risks, here was an opportunity for change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ubble questionnaire<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Before you leap into the questionnaire (either basking at the thought of many years ahead or getting your affairs in order), let me add a couple of comments about the questions themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n