In this Healthspan Horizons Perspective, Bartek Nogal, PhD, examines healthspan as a complex trait of complex traits, exploring how inherited influences can shape multiple domains of health, sometimes in competing directions.
Drawing on research in human genetics, longitudinal health data, multiomics, and genetically informed prevention, he explores how genomic information becomes more useful when interpreted alongside what we actually measure and experience over time.
The central question is not simply what our DNA predicts, but how inherited susceptibility can help us better understand, monitor, and potentially improve the health trajectories we live.
Key insights from this Perspective
1. Healthspan is a meta-trait, not a single biological outcome.
Cardiometabolic health, cognition, mobility, mental health, and resilience are interconnected. Genetic variants may influence several domains simultaneously, sometimes benefiting one while increasing susceptibility in another.
2. Our genome is relatively stable, but its predictive relevance can change with age.
Inherited variants are present throughout life, yet their observable effects and usefulness for anticipating disease or functional decline can vary across the life course.
3. Genetic information becomes more useful in context.
Two people with the same biomarker measurement may have very different lifetime exposure histories. Genetic information can help explain these differences, but must be interpreted alongside clinical measurements, environmental exposures, and longitudinal data.
4. The gap between genetic expectation and observed health may itself be informative.
When measured physiology differs from what inherited susceptibility suggests, that discrepancy can help researchers investigate protective factors, treatment effects, and additional biological influences.
5. The ultimate goal is better prevention and lived healthspan.
Genomics becomes most valuable when it improves how we assess susceptibility, interpret measurements, prioritize monitoring, and test interventions that help preserve physical and cognitive capacity.
About this Perspective and the Q4 series
The Healthspan Meta-Trait launches a new three-part Healthspan Horizons Perspective series exploring how genetics, multimodal health data, and AI can advance our understanding of measurable, predictable, and modifiable healthspan.
In this opening Perspective, Bartek Nogal, PhD, examines healthspan as a complex trait of complex traits, establishing a genetic framework for understanding interconnected domains of human health.
The series continues with:
- Part 2 — Annalise Schweickart, PhD: How genetics gains meaning alongside clinical, physiological, and other health data, providing context for more individualized health interpretation.
- Part 3 — Andrew Magis, PhD: How AI can integrate diverse biological and health data into more meaningful and actionable healthspan intelligence.
Together, these three Perspectives build upon the foundational work of Nathan Price, PhD, on Lived Healthspan and Cavin Ward-Caviness, PhD, on the exposome.
Collectively, they advance HH’s scientific vision of understanding health not as isolated measurements or disease outcomes, but as dynamic, interconnected trajectories that can be measured, interpreted, and potentially improved over time.
The titles and publication dates of Parts 2 and 3 will be announced as they are finalized.
Explore related Perspectives
Healthspan Before It’s Over — Nathan Price, PhD
Why healthspan must be understood through dynamic measurements, plausible future trajectories, and opportunities to change them.
The Exposome Perspective — Cavin Ward-Caviness, PhD
How environmental exposures and lived conditions shape our health across time.
