Age-related diseases can be reduced through health check-ups
New score predicts frailty and mortality
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The human ageing process plays a significant role in all major diseases. At the same time, it is highly heterogeneous and malleable, as Professor Eline Slagboom has demonstrated through her research over the past 25 years. The molecular biologist from Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands is currently particularly interested in the question: How can knowledge of biological ageing processes be put to practical use to help people stay healthy and active for longer?
To this end, she and her research team have developed their own score called ‘Personal-MetaboHealth’, which she will present on 23 September 2026 in Frankfurt am Main at the joint annual congress of the German Society for Geriatrics (DGG) and the German Society for Gerontology and Geriatrics (DGGG).
Gene variants influence longevity
“We now know a great deal about how ageing processes and mechanisms work at a cellular level,” explains the renowned biologist. “The major challenge is to translate this knowledge in such a way that it can be applied to the health of an individual.” For many years, Slagboom has been conducting often complex studies into the clinical and molecular parameters of physiological decline, the onset of disease, (multi-)morbidity, mortality and longevity.
The Dutch researcher and her team are therefore searching for genetic explanations within families whose life expectancy, across several generations, ranks among the top ten per cent of their respective generations. “Our research points to genomic regions and variants in inflammation- and immune-related signalling pathways,” she explains.
Biomarkers for age-related risks could be incorporated into health checks
Specific biomarkers can now reliably predict the risks of functional decline, multimorbidity or mortality in old age. In ageing research, the initial focus was on the process known as CpG methylation, in which chemical groups are attached to DNA. More recently, research has increasingly centred on proteins. In her own work, Professor Slagboom combines the study of proteins with specific metabolic products, known as metabolites.
“From very large datasets, we have generated scores that indicate the risk of frailty, cognitive decline, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and respiratory failure. To explore the potential of using such information as a comprehensive health check, we have focused on a score called ‘Personal-MetaboHealth’, which is scalable, cost-effective and can be implemented in intervention studies involving older adults,” says Eline Slagboom.
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