When Will I Die? A Mortality Test
CHICAGO — It sounds like a perfect parlor game for baby boomers suddenly confronting their own mortality: What are your chances of dying within four years?
Researchers have come up with 12 risk factors to try to answer that for people older than age 50.
This is one game where you want a low score. Zero to 5 points says your risk of dying in four years is less than 4 percent. With 14 points, your risk rises to 64 percent.
Just being male gives you 2 points. So does having diabetes, being a smoker and getting pooped trying to walk several blocks.
Points accrue with each four-year increment after age 60.
The test doesn’t ask what you eat, but it does ask if you can push a living room chair across the floor.
You can read the rest of the article here: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/259555_death15.htmlÂ
The full test is available in the Journal of the American Medical Society (JAMA).
