Covid-19 has had an unprecedented effect on life over the last 3 years. Despite numerous advances in vaccines and treatments for Covid-19 it continues to significantly contribute towards death and poor health in the UK. 5.3% of deaths in the week ending 21st January 2023 were certified as deaths involving Covid-19. Age, frailty, sex, and certain co-morbidities have been identified as predictors of death, critical care admission and changes in residence (new care home placements) on discharge. Additionally, several laboratory markers have been identified as predictors of poor prognosis on admission to hospital.

However, despite these advances in the understanding of the risks to prognosis in patients with Covid-19 there has been no universally accepted prognostication model. PhenoAgeAccel is an epigenetic biomarker of ageing for lifespan and healthspan calculated using readily available laboratory markers. It is a DNA methylation-based biomarker that has been tested in several populations and been found to be highly predictive of death and poor health.

PhenoAgeAccel measured in UK biobank participants predicted the severity of outcomes of those participants when they were diagnosed with Covid-19 more than 10 years later. Several of the components (CRP, white cell count, red cell distribution width) of PhenoAgeAccel have already been identified as predictors of poor prognosis in Covid-19.

PhenoAgeAccel is simple to calculate for inpatients with Covid-19 from routinely collected parameters and could provide a simple method of prognostication that could be automatically calculated at admission.