Indrayan Abhaya, Vishwakarma Gayatri, Verma Saumya, Sarmukaddam Sanjeev, Tyagi Asha
Department of Clinical Research, Max Healthcare, New Delhi, India.
Department of Biostatistics, George Institute of Global Health India, New Delhi, India.
Indian J Community Med. 2023 May-Jun;48(3):382-389. doi: 10.4103/ijcm.ijcm_480_22. Epub 2023 May 30.
The positive health of a person can be defined as the ability to live long in good health, possibly with no activity limitation. No method is yet available for its objective assessment in individuals, and we propose a framework in this communication that can operationalize this concept. Instead of distal factors, such as diet and lifestyle because these are subjective and difficult to measure, we concentrate on the objectively measurable biomarkers such as immunity level, endorphins, and handgrip strength. The focus is on the major parameters that may protect from diseases and infirmity and can be assessed by noninvasive methods. A combination of such parameters may signify positive health. This may be a novel way to measure positive health at the individual level. In this communication, we briefly review the literature and identify a few major biomarkers that provide a protective shield and could determine the status of positive health at the individual level. This exercise demonstrates that the assessment of the positive health of a person is feasible. A scale based on these and other relevant parameters can be developed later that could quantitatively measure the exact level of positive health. As the exact combination of the parameters that protects from ailments is not fully known yet, a framework such as this may help in identifying the data gaps that require attention in this context. The proposed framework may initiate a discussion on indicators of positive health and characterize the parameters for intervention that could increase a healthy life.
一个人的积极健康可以定义为能够健康长寿，可能没有活动限制。目前尚无在个体中对其进行客观评估的方法，我们在本交流中提出一个可将这一概念付诸实践的框架。我们不关注诸如饮食和生活方式等远端因素，因为这些因素主观且难以测量，而是专注于诸如免疫水平、内啡肽和握力等可客观测量的生物标志物。重点在于那些可能预防疾病和虚弱且可通过非侵入性方法评估的主要参数。这些参数的组合可能意味着积极健康。这可能是在个体层面测量积极健康的一种新方法。在本交流中，我们简要回顾文献并确定一些主要的生物标志物，它们能提供保护屏障并可在个体层面确定积极健康的状态。这项工作表明对一个人的积极健康进行评估是可行的。基于这些及其他相关参数的量表稍后可以制定出来，用以定量测量积极健康的确切水平。由于尚未完全了解预防疾病的参数的确切组合，这样一个框架可能有助于识别在这方面需要关注的数据缺口。所提出的框架可能引发关于积极健康指标的讨论，并确定可增加健康生活的干预参数。
