New scientific test predicts your chances of dying in the next 12 months based on your biological age

A new scientific test can predict if you're likely to die in the next 12 months.

It's not the cheeriest of subjects, but would you want to know when your time's up?

Some of us might not fear 'the end' and instead believe in the afterlife - unless you've had a near-death experience like Al Pacino.

But others think they can extend their time of earth through methods such as biohacking.

Now, a test called CheekAge could tell us how likely we are to kick the bucket.

Would you really want to know when your time was up? (Age Barros/Unsplash)

Using cells from the inside of your cheek, it calculates your biological age by analysing patterns of chemicals attached to your DNA.

David Furman, an associate professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, California, who was not involved in the new study, told LiveScience: "Biological age is much more telling [about the health of an individual] than the years that they've lived on this planet."

Looking at your health, it can then predict your risk of dying in the next year.

The study was published this month in the journal Frontiers in Aging. It found a group of adults between the ages of 69 and 101 had a 21 percent higher chance of dying in the next 12 months based on their CheekAge.

A cheek swab can tell you your biological age (Marie D. De Jesus/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

Scientists calculated the data by comparing the results to the subjects' death risk factor from blood tests.

First study author Maxim Shokhirev, head of computational biology and data science at Tally Health in New York, told the publication: "We were surprised to see that CheekAge worked so well in a different tissue. This may suggest that CheekAge is picking up on health signals that are conserved between different tissue types."

He added: "We can't predict if someone will live or die within a year, but we can see an increased or decreased risk of all cause mortality."

Furman and Shokhirev said CheekAge could one day be used to help people slow down or prevent biological aging.

But as it stands, the tools cannot deliver on that just yet.

While CheekAge isn't currently available to buy, the same researchers have made a similar product which is on the market. Called the TallyAge Test, it also uses cheek swabs to accurately measure your biological age.

The website explains this 'is correlated with lifestyle factors such as exercise, diet, and sleep.'