Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, allergies and COPD all are life-threatening conditions that stem from chronic inflammation diseases.

Professor Arch Mainous with the University of Florida is studying the impact that chronic inflammation has on the body.

"Thirty-four percent of people, aged 20 and older, actually have some sort of chronic inflammation,” Mainous said. 

Mainous' research focuses specifically on people who live in poverty.

In one of the largest studies of its kind, Mainous found that people with chronic inflammation who also live in poverty had a 127% increased risk of dying from heart disease. Research suggest people in that same group also have a 196% increased risk of dying from cancer in the next 15 years, compared to those who have only one of the risk factors.

Mainous hopes this research will serve as a call to action for new screening guidelines.

“It wouldn't be any more complicated than a screening test for high cholesterol, or a screening test for high glucose for diabetes,” Mainous said.

Watch the video above for the full story.