Objective, quantitative measures of subclinical disease and disease severity are stronger predictors of 5-year mortality in older adults than clinical history alone.
Objective measures of subclinical disease and disease severity were independent and joint predictors of 5-year mortality in older adults, along with male sex, relative poverty, physical activity, smoking, indicators of frailty, and disability. Except for history of congestive heart failure, objective, quantitative measures of disease were better predictors of mortality than was clinical history of disease.
Linda P. Fried (1998) studied this question.
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