Biomarkers in the blood may help more accurately predict longer-term mortality risk in patients, according to new Dutch findings.

It’s the largest pooled review to date incorporating more than 44,000 participants from a dozen studies with metabolomic profiling.

Participants were aged between 18 and 109, all from European descent, with more than 5500 dying during follow-up.

The authors narrowed down 14 metabolites from more than 200 that were most often associated with all-cause mortality. They then used these metabolites to build a model that predicts five- and ten-year mortality risk.