Visible Age-Related Signs and Risk of Ischemic Heart Disease in the General Population

Abstract

Background-Cardiovascular disease is 1 of the most common age-related diseases, and also 1 of the most common causes of death in the general population. We tested the hypothesis that visible age-related signs associate with risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD), myocardial infarction (MI), and death in the general population, independent of chronological age. Methods and Results-10,885 individuals aged 20 to 93 years free of IHD were followed from 1976 through 1978 until June 2011 with 100% complete follow-up. During these 35 years of follow-up, 3401 participants developed IHD and 1708 developed MI. Presence of frontoparietal baldness, crown top baldness, earlobe crease, and xanthelasmata was associated with increased risk of IHD or MI after multifactorial adjustment for chronological age and well-known cardiovascular risk factors. The risk of IHD and MI increased stepwise with increasing number of age-related signs with multifactorially adjusted hazard ratios up to 1.40 (95% confidence interval, 1.20-1.62) for IHD and 1.57 (1.28-1.93) for MI, in individuals with 3 to 4 versus no age-related signs at baseline (P for trend <0.001). In all age groups in both women and men, absolute 10-year risk of IHD and MI increased with increasing number of visible age-related signs. Conclusions-Male pattern baldness, earlobe crease, and xanthelasmata-alone or in combination-associate with increased risk of ischemic heart disease and myocardial infarction independent of chronological age and other wellknown cardiovascular risk factors. This is the first prospective study to show that looking old for your age is a marker of poor cardiovascular health. (Circulation. 2014;129:990-998.)

Earlobe Crease Shapes and Cardiovascular Events

“…Thus, some investigators have defined ELC severity according to its length and depth, 13 whereas considered only complete ELC, regardless of its inclination or bilateralism, 14 and a recent publication evaluated the right pinna exclusively, thus ignoring bilateralism, and the sample photograph presented to nurses for classification showed a vertical rather than a diagonal ELC. 8 Our detailed analysis of each characteristic has revealed that diagonal bilateral ELC is the most reliable marker of CVEs, agreeing with previous evidences 6 that showed poorer outcomes for cardiologic patients with bilateral ELC compared with those displaying unilateral ELC. The vertical crease has, for the first time, demonstrated a lack of association with CVE.…”

Are you a rich guy with a diagonal earlobe crease?

“…The largest prospective study to date (over 10 000 participants) showed that people over 40 years of age with earlobe crease are at risk of vascular disease due to atherosclerosis. 5 In our patient, microcytic anemia was diagnosed. A computed tomography scan of the chest and abdomen revealed continuous extension of thoracic aneurysm and endoleak within the lower part of the stent graft (FIGURE 1B).…”

The Epistemology of Wrinkles: From Geology and Anatomy to Physiology

“…Tybjaerg-Hansen and others studied over 10,000 Danes and found that ear lobe creases indicated the body's biological age, and was an indicator for heart disease. [11] Studies on Shar Pei dogs suggests that these animals have mucinosis -high hyaluronic acid levels are found in both cutaneous tissues and the blood stream --and these high amounts are due to an excess in the activity (overexpression) of the HAS2 enzyme. [12] Such research avenues are promising as they can shed more light on processes such as cell recognition and ageing.…”