A study by the Intermountain Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City has discovered that DNA chromosomes can now be used to predict the life expectancy of people suffering from heart disease.

The researchers found that the length of telomeres, the protective ends in the chromosome strands, can indicate the life expectancy of a patient. As a person gets older, telomeres degrade and become shorter, which leads to the development of diseases such as heart disease and cancer. The study was conducted by a team led by John Carlquist, director of the Intermountain Heart Institute Genetics Lab, using DNA samples from more than 3,500 heart attack and stroke patients.

“Our research shows that if we statistically adjust the age, patients with longer telomeres live longer, suggesting that telomere length is more than just a measure of age, but may also indicate the probability for survival. Longer telomere length directly correlate with the likelihood for a longer life—even for patients with heart disease,” Carlquist said in a press release.

Carlquist said the finding can help measure the effectiveness of heart disease treatments.