Understanding Your VOLO Score

1.   What is a VOLO™ Score? 

Your VOLO™ Score is a number that tells you how your long-term health compares to other people your age and sex — not just on one measure of health, but across multiple dimensions of health at once. 

Think of it like a credit score for your health. A credit score takes dozens of financial data points and summarizes them into one number that tells you where you stand. Your VOLO Score does something similar with your lab results and physical measures, collectively your biomarkers: it takes your biomarkers and produces a score that tells you how your overall long-term health picture compares to your peers, and whether it’s getting better or worse over time. 

One important difference from a credit score: you get a separate VOLO Score for each health area — your heart, your kidneys, your metabolism, your brain, and more. That means you can see not just where you stand overall, but which areas of long-term health are strong and which need more attention A VOLO Score of 200 means your long-term health in that area matches the average for someone your age and sex. Higher is better. The further above 200 your score is, the more favorable your long-term health picture is compared to your peers. 

2. How is the VOLO Score calculated? 

Your VOLO Score starts with a comparison. For every health area, VOLO Health’s models look at your biomarkers and ask: given your age and sex, how does your predicted long-term disease risk compare to a typical healthy person of the same age and sex? 

That comparison — your risk relative to your peers — is the foundation of the score. It is calculated from a large body of real-world health data, including one of the world’s largest health research studies, involving hundreds of thousands of people tracked over many years. The models learned from the data which biomarker patterns are associated with better or worse long-term health outcomes, across many different disease areas at the same time. 

Your score is then expressed on a scale centered at 200. A score of 200 means your predicted long-term risk matches the population average for your age and sex. Scores above 200 mean your 15-year predicted risk for the domain is lower than average — a good thing. Scores below 200 mean your 15-year predicted risk for the domain is higher than average — an area worth paying attention to. 

Why Standard Lab Ranges Are Not Sufficient? 

Standard lab reference ranges were designed to flag outliers in a general population. They typically don’t account for your age, your sex, or the relationship between your results across different biomarkers. A value may look “normal” on a standard lab report but still carry elevated long-term risk for someone your age — or a value that looks slightly “abnormal” may not be indicative of poor long-term health given your profile. 

The VOLO Score uses a different approach. Instead of comparing your results to a fixed population cutoff, it compares them to what the long-term health data actually show about people with your specific combination of age, sex, and biomarker values. It’s a more personalized and informative prediction of long-term health. 

3. How to Read Your VOLO Score

The 200 anchor 

Every VOLO Score is built around 200 as the reference point. A score of 200 in any health domain means your biomarker profile predicts a long-term disease probability matching the average for a healthy person with your age and sex. It is not a failing grade — it is exactly average. 

Scores above 200 mean your predicted long-term risk is below the population average for your age and sex (a good long-term health trajectory). Scores below 200 mean your predicted long-term risk is higher than average. The further from 200 in either direction, the more meaningful the difference. 

The doubling/halving rule 

Here’s the most useful thing to know about the VOLO Score: every 20 points corresponds to roughly a doubling or halving of your predicted long-term disease risk relative to the population average. 

That means a score of 220 corresponds to about half the predicted long-term risk of a score of 200. A score of 240 corresponds to about a quarter of the risk. Going the other way, a score of 180 corresponds to about twice the predicted long-term risk of a score of 200, and a score of 160 to about four times. 

This makes changes in your score directly meaningful. If your Metabolic score moves from 185 to 205 over a year, that’s not just a number going up — it represents your predicted metabolic long-term disease risk approximately halving relative to where it was. That’s a real and significant improvement. 

Each Domain Has Its Own Score

You receive a separate VOLO Score for each health domain in your report. This matters because your health domains do not change in a uniform way over time. You might have an excellent cardiovascular score and an average metabolic score — a pattern that tells you something specific about where to focus. A single overall number would hide that information. Each domain score is calculated independently using the same method, so they are directly comparable. A score of 215 in the Kidney domain means the same thing — relative to peers — as a score of 215 in the Brain domain.

4. What the max score means

Each domain in your report shows a max Score alongside your current score. This is worth explaining because it is important to understand. The max Score is not a personal target set for you. It is the highest score the model expresses for any profile in that domain, given the range and the health data behind it. Think of it less like a personal ceiling and more like the top of the measuring tape — it tells you how much room the scale has to move in the domain. A current score of 221 against a max score of 225 means you are near the top of what the model can show for the domain. That is generally a good sign, but it also means large upward movements are unlikely simply because there isn’t much room on the scale. A current score of 221 against a max Score of 245 means there is meaningful modeled upside — your score has more room to improve, and your biomarkers in the domain have more potential to move.

A high max score means the model has more room to differentiate in that domain — it can reflect bigger improvements or declines. A low max score in a domain where you are already scoring well simply means the model is near its expressive ceiling for your profile. Neither situation requires action on its own.

5. VOLO™ Age: What it means

Alongside each domain score, your report shows a VOLO Age — expressed as a difference from your actual age, such as “−6.0 years.” This is one of the most intuitive outputs in the report, but it’s worth being precise about what it actually means.

A VOLO Age in a domain that matches your chronological age is the age at which the average healthy person with the same age and sex in the research population would have a VOLO™ Score equivalent to yours. A Cardiovascular Volo Age of −6.0 years means your cardiovascular biomarker profile looks, in terms of 15-year predicted risk for cardiovascular disease, like the average long-term health of someone six years younger than you.

What it does not mean: it is not a prediction that you will live six extra years, or that your biological age is literally six years younger in any absolute sense. It is a comparison — a way of putting your score into a frame of reference that most people find immediately meaningful.

A VOLO Age delta of −6.0 years is genuinely good news. It means your biomarker profile in that domain is the same as a person six years your junior with average long-term health. But treat it as a motivating data point, not a medical prognosis. Discuss any significant findings with your healthcare provider

6. How to use your VOLO Score over time 

A single VOLO Score is a snapshot. It tells you where your long-term health stands today relative to your peers. But the real value of the score comes from tracking it over time. 

Because every 20-point change corresponds to roughly a doubling or halving of predicted long-term risk, you can see whether the changes you are making — in lifestyle, nutrition, medication, or other interventions — are showing up in your biology. Not just as a feeling, and not just as a single lab value going up or down, but as a measurable shift in your long-term health trajectory across multiple domains simultaneously. 

What to expect between measurements 

Some variation between measurements is normal. Lab values fluctuate naturally due to things like hydration, fasting state, time of day, and normal biological variability. A score that moves a few points between visits does not necessarily mean your health has meaningfully changed. Look for consistent directional trends across two or three measurements rather than reacting to any single moderate change in your score. 

Larger changes — 10 points or more in a domain — are more likely to reflect a real shift in your health picture and are worth discussing with your physician. 

What to do with a low score 

A domain score below 200 is not a diagnosis. It is a signal that your biomarker profile in that area is associated with above-average predicted long-term risk compared to healthy peers your age and sex. The appropriate response is a conversation with your healthcare provider — not alarm, but attention. 

Your report shows which specific biomarkers are driving your score in each domain through the Score Impact and biomarkers of importance data. The Score (or Age) Impact tells you and your physician not just whether the score is low, but why — and which biomarkers, if improved, may have the greatest effect on moving it. 

7. Common Questions

The Bottom Line 

Your VOLO Score tells you how your long-term health compares to healthy peers your age and sex — not on one measure, but across multiple health domains at once. A score of 200 is average. Every 20 points above or below that represents roughly a halving or doubling of your predicted long-term disease risk in that domain. Track it over time, understand what’s driving it through your Score (or Age) Impact data, and use it as a conversation starter with your physician — not as a source of alarm, but as a more complete picture of where your health stands and where it’s heading. Learn more about VOLO Score here.

The VOLO™ Score is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent any disease or medical condition and does not constitute medical advice. Statistical associations described are population-level findings and are not evidence of causation at the individual level. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional with questions regarding your health.