Quantifying Wellbeing in Insurance: The keys to a Longer Life
The insurance industry has long relied on traditional risk factors—such as body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, and cholesterol—to predict health outcomes. These metrics are well established in the general population, but insurers have often struggled to quantify their impact accurately in insured lives. A recent RGA-sponsored analysis of the UK Biobank study, in collaboration with the University of Leicester, sheds new light on this challenge by incorporating both traditional and non-traditional health indicators into risk models.
Traditional vs. non-traditional risk factors
RGA’s study confirms that BMI continues to be a strong predictor of mortality risk. The research revealed a U-shaped relationship: very low and very high BMI values were associated with nearly three times the mortality risk compared to mid-range values.
At the same time, the study highlights the value of non-traditional risk factors such as:
Self-reported walking pace: Individuals who reported a brisk walking pace had up to a 50% lower risk of mortality compared to those with a slow pace.
Wearable-measured step counts: Participants averaging around 11,000 steps per day had significantly lower mortality risk than those averaging 5,000 steps, confirming step counts as a powerful predictor of longevity.
These findings suggest that lifestyle behaviors—captured through simple metrics like walking pace and step counts—can provide as much predictive power as traditional biomarkers such as blood pressure and cholesterol.
Reference: RGA: Quantifying Wellbeing in Insurance
Implications for insurers
For insurers, the integration of wearable-derived metrics into underwriting and wellness programs could represent a paradigm shift. According to RGA’s analysis:
Non-traditional data enhances the ability to segment risk with greater precision.
Health and activity data can engage policyholders directly, encouraging healthier behaviors.
The UK Biobank’s representativeness of insured populations makes these findings particularly relevant for underwriting models.
By bridging traditional and new forms of health data, insurers have the opportunity to move beyond static risk assessment toward dynamic, continuous insights.
How ROOK enables this future
At ROOK, we share the vision outlined by RGA’s research. Our API connects insurers and innovators to standardized data from hundreds of wearables, transforming raw activity and biometric signals into actionable insights. This allows companies to:
Integrate step counts, sleep, and biometrics seamlessly into their models.
Deliver personalized wellness programs based on real-world behaviors.
Reduce the operational complexity of managing multiple integrations.
Toward more holistic risk assessment
The evidence from RGA’s UK Biobank study is clear: combining traditional metrics like BMI with lifestyle-based data such as walking pace and step counts provides a more complete view of health and longevity. For insurers, this not only strengthens underwriting strategies but also positions them as partners in helping policyholders lead longer, healthier lives.
As the industry embraces medicine 3.0, ROOK is here to ensure that the data powering these insights is accessible, reliable, and ready to unlock innovation.
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