Extensive study of five-year mortality risk
Researchers from SciLifeLab/Uppsala University have studied the risk of dying over the next five years. They have developed a unique health-risk calculator by using one of the world’s largest study material, UK Biobank, containing data from nearly half a million people. The results are expected to have large areas of application both in the clinical setting, public health policy and in research.
“We show that, using a few simple questions, one can predict the risk of dying within five years with greater reliability than in any other way we know today. We think our study and the associated risk calculator will become an important tool for a wide range of researchers, but also for doctors, decision-makers and the public,” says Erik Ingelsson, SciLifeLab faculty and professor at Uppsala University, who headed the study that has now been published in The Lancet.
This tool can no doubt be useful for journalists in assessing the news value of a new piece of research, since it enables them to compare the results with a large set of data material. The hope is that small studies will thus be discarded from the news flow, instead of unnecessarily causing concern.
Test the (UK Longevity Explorer) health tool
