Earlobe creasing and cardiovascular disease?
March 19, 2009
I just got this question from Marie. I do remember hearing about the correlation between earlobe creasing and coronary disease during my studies, but I have to admit I have no idea what the connection might be or even if it is true. Anyone who knows?
“Hi! Read the news in Mats’ blog. I married into a family that sits around the table measuring their blood pressure once per day. I’m not joking! They pay attention to their heart beats and their blood and, well maybe if we all would some bad events would be avoided. Anyway, I do have a question:
I heard a doctor on tv say that people with a deep crease in their earlobes have an increased risk of suffering a heart attack. Living in an area where someone in the neighbourhood seems to be getting a heart attack once every two weeks (cigarettes, fat meat, baklava and no excercise) I started looking for deep creases and found one, not on my husband but on a relative. So, is it true about the crease and if so, where is the connection between the ears and the cardiovascular health of a person?”
March 20, 2009 at 11:18 am
http://www.lakartidningen.se/store/articlepdf/1/11548/0911s745.pdf
March 21, 2009 at 11:43 am
Since Lenas article is in Swedish, I decided to add some information in English…
A quick search of Google, Pubmed and the Cochrane library leaves me and my collegues unfortunately no less confused. The data seems to be very conflicting; I would say that Maries question is not only interesting but also probably the source of quite a few conflicts in the medical world. Here are some of the publications on the topic:
Ear lobe crease: point of disagreement in evidence-based medicine.Koracevic G, Atanaskovic V.Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 2009 Mar;30(1):89. [www.pubmed.org/19237867]
Ear lobe crease and coronary artery disease. 1,000 patients and review of the literature. Elliott WJ. Am J Med. 1983 Dec;75(6):1024-32. Review
The predictive value of diagonal ear-lobe crease sign. Motamed M, Pelekoudas N. Int J Clin Pract. 1998 Jul-Aug;52(5):305-6.
Ear lobe crease and coronary artery disease. Cheng TO. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1991 Mar;39(3):315-6. No abstract available.
[The diagonal ear lobe crease for evaluating coronary risk] Kuon E, Pfahlbusch K, Lang E. Z Kardiol. 1995 Jul;84(7):512-9. Review. German
So, if there is a connection, what would it be? It seems that ear lobe creasing is primarily a sign of ageing and maybe the loss of elastine. Elastine, by the way, is the springy-coily-rubbery little protein responsible for keeping (for example) your skin, lungs and arteries bouncy, and the loss of that protein with age could in theory cause both ear lobe creasing and changes in your arteries; but is it true?
Well. Doing a meta-analysis of the articles above is beyond my capability; but having read the abstracts, I have come to the personal belief that:
– If you have an ear lobe crease, you are probably old.
– Old people are more likely to have coronary heart disease than young.
– Old people with an ear lobe crease might be more likely to have coronary heart disease than old people without one.
– You really really shouldn’t smoke.
March 24, 2009 at 11:06 am
Thank you
I didn’t mention that this creased relative of mine actually has problems with the heart. Plus he is old. So that’s where we are left.