Physiological age versus chronological age

A new study published in the European Journal of Preventative Cardiology shows how physiological age is a better predictor of longevity than chronological age.  The study included 126,356 patients that had been referred to the Cleveland Clinic between 1991 and 2015 for their first stress test (commonly used to diagnose heart problems).  The stress test involves walking on a treadmill, gently at first before becoming more challenging, recording exercise capacity, heart rate response and heart rate recovery time.

The average age of the participants was 53.5, with 59% of them male.  More than half of the individuals aged 50-60 were physiologically younger according to the tests.  After a follow up of 8.7 years the study found that the patients that had died during that time were recorded as being up to 10 years physiologically older than the other patients.

The study found that ‘Age Based on Exercise Stress Testing’ was a better predictor of survival than chronological age even after adjusting for sex, smoking, body mass index, statin use, hypertension, diabetes, coronary artery disease and kidney disease.  This was true for both men and women.