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Quantifying the versatility of routinely measured prognostic factors
Hamish Innes1,2,3, Philip J Johnson4
1School of Health and Life Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK. Hamish.innes@gcu.ac.uk.
Diagnostic and Prognostic Research
|December 4, 2025
Summary
Age, waist-hip ratio, and hand-grip strength are highly versatile prognostic factors (PFs) predicting many health outcomes. Understanding PF versatility is key for developing better prognostic models.
Area of Science:
- Biostatistics
- Epidemiology
- Gerontology
Background:
- Prognostic factors (PFs) can predict diverse health outcomes.
- Quantifying the versatility of commonly measured PFs is important for clinical applications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify the versatility of commonly measured prognostic factors (PFs).
- To identify PFs that predict a wide range of health outcomes.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of UK Biobank (UKB) participants (up to 502,408).
- Follow-up for an average of 12.4 years, considering over 800 adverse outcomes.
- Cox regression used to assess associations between 24 PFs and time to outcome events.
Main Results:
- Age, waist-hip ratio, and hand-grip strength showed the highest number of statistically significant associations with adverse outcomes.
- Diastolic blood pressure and total protein had the fewest significant associations.
- A positive correlation was found between the number of events a PF was associated with and its average effect size.
Conclusions:
- A wide spectrum of PF versatility exists.
- Age, waist-hip ratio, and hand-grip strength are highly versatile PFs.
- Understanding PF versatility can optimize prognostic model development.
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