Scientists from Sweden have developed a death calculator that attempts to predict whether a person is likely to die within the next five years.
The test, called Ubble, can only be taken by those between the ages of 40 and 70 and asks up to 13 questions related to the person's background, lifestyle and health.
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The scientists behind the study, published in the Lancet Medical journal, claim the test is 80 per cent accurate.
Dr Andrea Ganna, one of the creators of the test, told the Daily Telegraph: "We hope that our score might eventually enable doctors to quickly and easily identify their highest risk patients."
The study is the first to use data from the UK Biobank, a collection of 500,000 people who have volunteered their medical history and provided blood, urine and saliva samples. The aim of Biobank is to track the volunteer's health throughout their lifetime, in order to aid the prevention of disease and health disorders.
However, Professor Simon Thompson from the University of Cambridge suggests Ubble might not be so ground-breaking. "Whether this will help individuals improve self-awareness of their health status… or only lead to so-called cyberchondria is a moot point," he says. "Moreover, five-year mortality is easier to predict than long-term morbidity, or quality of life and life expectancy, all of which are more important to individuals and to society."
Critics have also argued that the test should not be seen as some kind of oracle. Professor David Coggon from the University of Southampton told the Daily Mail: "I have doubts about the practical value of such scores. Most of the predictive factors do not directly cause disease, and even where they do, few are under the control of the individual."
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