Why do some people live longer, healthier, and more active lives while others their same age struggle with lifelong chronic pain and suffer maladies up to their dying day--which comes much earlier than others? This basic longevity question has been nagging physicians for ages. The importance of lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, stress, and epigenetic processes like lifestyle and exposure to environmental hazards have been called into account to explain this divergence, and now a team of researchers from Stanford's Cardiovascular Institute Division of Vascular Surgery and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging believes they found the answer. Rather than the biological age, they say a better predictor of health and longevity is a person's inflammation age. Aided by artificial intelligence and machine learning, the researchers have concluded that epigenetic effects of inflammation processes, particularly on the cardiovascular and neurological level, are connected with much of the morbidity and mortality associated with aging.

An inflammatory ageing clock can predict how strong your immune system is and when you'll become frail by analysing your blood, according to its developers. The AI-driven device can diagnose life-threatening illness years before any symptoms begin to develop, allow for early treatment and improved recovery. The system can also determine frailty levels in old age seven years in advance, say researchers from the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, California. The US team analysed blood samples from 1,001 individuals aged eight to 96 years as part of a project called '1000 Immunomes', to create a prediction score. It's even more accurate than the number of candles on your birthday cake, say scientists from Stanford University School of Medicine, who also worked on its development, as it is based on blood-borne proteins that drive chronic inflammation.