Health check based on advanced blood analysis technology builds a better foundation for public health
Nightingale Health Plc, Press release
6 June 2024 at 9:30 a.m. (EEST)
Finland’s largest health service company, Terveystalo, has provided Nightingale Health Plc’s (“Nightingale Health”) proprietary blood analysis as part of regular health checks in occupational health since January this year. Nightingale Health’s advanced technology detects the risks of eight of the most common chronic diseases from a single blood sample, which streamlines the healthcare professionals’ work significantly and saves time.
During the first five months of the year more than 50,000 blood samples have already been analysed, and the results reveal the serious challenge ahead to extend working lives, if preventative actions are not taken rapidly. The number of health checks performed in this short period is substantial both in Finland and globally, and it creates a new opportunity to make healthcare decisions based on comprehensive assessment of future health risks.
Analysing these disease risks has also been possible earlier with risk calculators such as the FINRISK calculator, but using these risk calculators takes an unreasonable amount of time. The Nightingale analysis detects risks for eight chronic diseases and requires only the few minutes needed to draw the blood sample. Because of this, the technology can be scaled to detect disease risks for large populations and entire nations.
“Traditional disease risk calculators are well known, but they are used sporadically, and they don’t scale well, because using them takes a lot of time. With Nightingale Health’s modern blood analysis, we can, for the first time, get a systematic, comprehensive and trackable overview of disease risks on the population level” says Petri Bono, Terveystalo’s Chief Medical Officer.
The initial results from 50,000 samples indicate that extending working lives is a challenge
The initial results show how the disease risks for men especially are alarming on the population level.
“Over 60 % of men older than 55 years and 80 % of men older than 65 years have high risk for cardiovascular diseases. These diseases continue to be the cause for almost half of all deaths of working aged people in Finland, as the first visible symptom can be the infarct that leads to death, many of which could have been prevented. If we don’t take substantial preventative measures, these risks can become reality within the next ten years” says Ilse Rauhaniemi, M.D., Head of Occupational Health Processes at Terveystalo.
The results also show significant risks for other diseases. For example, 30 % of men over 55 years old are at high risk for type 2 diabetes.
“In Finland, type 2 diabetes prevalence is increasing faster than elsewhere in Europe, highlighting the need to improve our lifestyle. By providing our customers information about their individual disease risks, we support and motivate them to make a lifestyle change. By detecting early disease risks effectively and systematically, the limited healthcare resources can be better targeted to diseases that cannot be prevented. With preventative occupational health we aim to have fewer sick people in the future, and this is critical because of the aging population and limited capacity of the healthcare system”, Rauhaniemi continues.
Early detection of health risks on the population level is the foundation for a better healthcare system
Currently, the management of healthcare systems in developed countries is primarily based on statistics and analysis of disease outcomes and mortality. The problem with this approach is that major public health issues, such as cardiovascular diseases, start to develop at least a decade before the onset of the disease. Therefore, analyzing disease outcomes and mortality means looking far into the past. Additionally, the true effectiveness of today’s health policy decisions and interventions can only be seen in disease outcomes and mortality over a decade later. Managing the healthcare system with outdated information towards an unknown future is slow, inefficient, and risky.
“At Terveystalo, we want to renew healthcare. Our collaboration supports shifting the focus of healthcare towards an even more preventative direction and strengthens data-driven management in occupational health services. Proactive identification of health risks enables a shift from the outdated, retrospective approach to a new, proactive operating model, which can mitigate the unprecedented healthcare crisis expected to be caused by lifestyle diseases in the future. Hence, the management of healthcare should more strongly be based on reducing future risks and systematically monitoring the decrease in disease risks”, Bono continues.
“Our technology enables a new forward-looking approach to managing the healthcare system, where a better future is systematically built by monitoring the impact of interventions on risks almost in real-time. At the same time, our solution does not burden the healthcare system or increase costs – we help achieve better results with fewer resources”, concludes Teemu Suna, Nightingale Health's CEO and Founder.
For further information, please contact:
Teemu Suna, CEO
[email protected]
Terveystalo media on-call service
Tel. 050 358 1170
About Nightingale Health
Nightingale Health’s mission is to build sustainable healthcare and reduce health inequalities. Nightingale Health has developed the world’s most advanced health check that provides risk detection for multiple chronic diseases from a single blood sample. Nightingale’s Health Check can be scaled to entire populations at a low cost, and it can replace many of the current clinical risk assessments. Detecting disease risks on a population level allows for the effective targeting and tracking of health interventions, and better prevention of the onset of chronic diseases. With every sample we help to create a healthier world.
Nightingale Health operates globally with a parent company in Finland and seven subsidiaries in countries such as Japan, the United States, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. Nightingale Health has customers in more than 34 countries in the healthcare and medical research sectors. The company’s technology is being used in many of the world’s leading health initiatives, such as the UK Biobank, and over 600 peer-reviewed publications validate the technology. The company’s Series B shares are listed on the First North Growth Market Finland marketplace. Read more: https://nightingalehealth.com
Terveystalo in brief
Terveystalo is the largest private healthcare service provider in Finland in terms of revenue and network. Terveystalo is also a leading occupational health provider in the Nordic region. We offer a wide variety of primary health care, specialized care, and well-being services for corporate and private customers and the public sector. Terveystalo’s s digital services are available 24/7, regardless of time and place. Health and well-being services are also provided by over 377 clinics across Finland. In Sweden, we offer occupational health services at 152 clinics. Terveystalo is listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.
In 2023, Terveystalo had approximately 1.2 million individual customers in Finland and the number of customer appointments was approximately 7.6 million, with more than a quarter of these being conducted via remote channels. Terveystalo employs over 15,500 healthcare and well-being professionals. www.terveystalo.com
