HOW
LONG YOU’LL LIVE

Topics: Aging; Choices; Consequences; Death; Future

References: Deuteronomy 32:29; Job 14:5; Psalm 39:4; 90:12; Romans 3:23; 5:12–19; 6:23

How long will you live? Researchers with the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center say they have developed a test that predicts your chances of surviving with 81 percent accuracy.

They begin with zero, then factor in risk factors, such as diabetes, smoking, exhaustion, or good health habits such as moderate exercise. Men automatically lose 2 points just for being men. Dr. Sei Lee, a geriatrics researcher at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, said the quiz is designed “to try to help doctors and families get a firmer sense for what the future may hold” to plan health care accordingly.

—Lindsey Tanner, “Test Helps You Predict Chances of Dying,” news.yahoo.com (February 14, 2006)