Are You Healthy Enough To Survive 10 More Years? A New Test Will Tell You

Want to know your chances of dying in the next 10 years? Here are some bad signs: getting winded walking several blocks, smoking, and having trouble pushing a chair across the room.

That’s according to a “mortality index” developed by San Francisco researchers for people older than 50.

The test scores may satisfy people’s morbid curiosity, but the researchers say their 12-item index is mostly for use by doctors. It can help them decide whether costly health screenings or medical procedures are worth the risk for patients unlikely to live 10 more years.

It’s best to take the test with a doctor, who can discuss what the score means in the context of patients’ own medical history, the study authors say.

The index “wasn’t meant as guidance about how to alter your lifestyle,” said lead author Dr. Marisa Cruz of the University of California, San Francisco.

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