Norfolk researchers say blood tests can predict future disabilities
Blood tests could predict whether you will be disabled in five years.
Researchers at the University of East Anglia says a new study shows that people's biological health can predict disability and healthcare demand in five years' time.
They say blood tests for 'biomarkers' such as cholestrol and inflammation could predict whether you will be disabled in five years.
Researchers also found that people on higher-incomes were more likely to seek GP appointments and outpatient treatments for their medical problems - with evidence of pro-rich inequity across all types of health service use.
Dr Apostolos Davillas from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said: “We know that the poorest people in England miss out on more than a decade of good health compared with the richest.
“We wanted to find out more about the links between people’s social status and their future health - and see whether blood tests could predict future disability and use of health care services.”
The study looked at biomarkers which can be tell-tale signs linked to different diseases, and they are an objective measure of health.
They say the biomarkers can tell researchers a lot about what's going on in people's bodies - even before symptoms of disease begin.
Dr Davillas' previous research has shown how biomarkers for stress are linked with socioeconomic position and revealed some of the hidden mechanisms connecting social inequality to health.
As well as looking at cholestrol, liver and kidney function, and inflammation in the 5,286 participants, researchers also monitored measures of obesity, grip strength, resting heart rate, blood pressure and lung function.
Dr Davillas said: “What we found is that underlying biomarker differences are linked with future disability – and that we could actually predict people’s level of disability in five years’ time, based on the biomarkers in their blood.
“We also found that people’s biological health is linked with future demand on healthcare services such as GP and outpatient consultations, as well as time spent in hospital.
“We tried to investigate the mechanism for why this happens and found that people with impaired biological health may develop disability in five years’ time – resulting in increased health care and social needs.”
But as a by-product of the analysis, the team found that people with higher incomes were more likely to seek the health care they need for their medical problems. This means that there is pro-rich inequity in health care use.
“In a publicly funded health care system, pro-rich inequity in health care use may be because people on lower low-incomes are heavily time-constrained, due to harsher employment and living arrangements, and may be more constrained in seeking the health care they need,” Said Dr Davillas.
Dr Davillas added: “We found that the markers which matter most for disability progression are associated with lung function, grip strength, obesity, anaemia, stress-related hormones and liver function.
“Indicators such as blood pressure and cholesterol, which are the current focus of public health screening programs, are less useful as predictors of disability.
“The NHS England Health Check program mainly offers blood pressure, cholesterol tests and BMI measurements every five years to those aged 40-74.
“But our research shows that a broader set of blood-based biomarkers should be considered for public health screening programmes.
“This is increasingly feasible using dried blood spot sampling - drops of whole blood collected on filter paper from a finger prick - which offers a minimally invasive basis for carrying out a wide range of blood tests at low cost.
“We also focused our study on people who were apparently healthy, so they wouldn’t normally be prioritised by the health care system. We hope our findings could lead to better policies for prevention strategies – which could potentially help the NHS save money.
“Moreover, our results show pro-rich inequity across all types of health service use.
“We hope our findings will help lead to policies to secure more equal health care opportunities across the UK.”