While the exact moment our lives will end remains a mystery, researchers suggest they might have discovered a method to predict your survival chances over the next five years. A team of scientists at the University of Surrey claims to have developed a blood test capable of identifying individuals at higher risk of mortality.

According to their findings, certain proteins present in the bloodstream serve as indicators of mortality risk over the upcoming five years, while others could gauge your survival prospects over the next decade. This breakthrough has the potential to assist doctors in initiating treatments at an earlier stage.

The study highlights that elevated levels of five specific proteins in the blood—PLAUR, SERPINA3, CRIM1, DDR1, and LTBP2—can signal an increased likelihood of death. These proteins are linked to the onset of diseases like cancer and inflammation, potentially acting as markers for mortality risk.

The research, featured in PLoS One, identifies 392 proteins associated with a heightened risk of dying within five years and an additional 377 proteins linked to death within ten years. These connections hold true even after accounting for health and lifestyle factors like smoking or existing health conditions.

The team aspires for these discoveries to enable healthcare professionals to pinpoint those most vulnerable to early death, potentially facilitating timely medical interventions, as reported by Surrey Live.

Proteins are crucial for numerous essential functions in the body, including growth, development, and cellular structure. Using data from the UK Biobank, the scientists examined blood protein profiles from over 38,000 middle-aged and older adults, some of whom experienced non-accidental death within five or ten years after their blood samples were collected.

Professor Nophar Geifman, Professor of Health and Biomedical Informatics at the University of Surrey, said: “Not only can different proteins reflect our overall health, and help identify ongoing disease, what we have shown is that they can reflect the risk of dying within a certain period. Altered levels of such proteins are an indicator that all is not well in the body and particular life limiting conditions could arise.

“Early identification of individuals at most risk could enable targeted interventions and treatment plans, helping to improve life span. Ultimately, this will also help our health services reduce costs, as early interventions have beneficial health economic effects by lowering the need for long-term and costly care.”

Scientists discovered that proteins responsible for cells communicating with each other, increasing the number of cells, and processes of inflammation, were most predictive of mortality within five years. For example, high levels of the protein (SERPINA1), responsible for protecting the lungs against certain enzymes, which cause inflammation, was identified as being a strong predictor of five-year mortality.

The team also found that five proteins were key indicators of mortality regardless of the timeframe. This suggests these proteins play key roles in biological processes that result in conditions with poor outcomes.

This included elevated levels of SERPINA3 are associated with lower survival rates in several types of skin cancer and carcinomas. Natalia Koziar, a PhD candidate at the University of Surrey and lead author, said: “Certain blood proteins reflect more gradual, chronic processes that affect long term survival whilst others are reflective of more immediate, acute health risks, like troponin for heart disease. The new information could be useful to clinicians in creating a scorecard of protein levels that help to identify individuals most at risk of developing conditions with poor outcomes.”