How long will you live? Why scientists want you to know

Science has come up with a way to predict how long people will live. Do we really want to know when we’re going to die? Yes‚ we do‚ say the scientists.

Why? It will help in the early diagnosis of serious illness and doctors will be able to react early‚ potentially saving people’s lives‚ Science site Wired UK reported this week.

The University of Adelaide‚ Australia‚ used artificial intelligence to analyse images and determined with 69% accuracy which patients would die within five years.

It’s not so much about diagnosis but about predicting medical outcomes.

Lead author Dr Luke Oakden-Rayner‚ of the university’s School of Public Health‚ said: “Predicting the future of a patient is useful because it may enable doctors to tailor treatments to the individual."

In the study‚ published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports‚ the researchers said the “most confident predictions” were made for people with severe chronic diseases such as emphysema and congestive heart failure.