ArticleBMC cardiovascular disorders2016
Did Dumbo suffer a heart attack? independent association between earlobe crease and cardiovascular disease.
Article in BMC cardiovascular disorders, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- A new clinical examination finding in obstructive sleep apnea; diagonal auricular fold (Frank sign).Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung · 2026Article
- The Relationship between the Presence of an Earlobe Crease and Overactive Bladder: A Cross-Sectional Case-Controlled Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Article
- Diagonal Earlobe Crease is a Visible Sign for Cerebral Small Vessel Disease and Amyloid-β.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Diagonal ear lobe crease: A premonitory diagnostic sign of impeding ischemic heart disease.Journal of family medicine and primary careArticle
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundEarlobe crease (ELC) has been associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) or risk factors (CVRF) and could be a marker predisposing to CVD. However, most studies studied only a small number of CVRF and no complete assessment of the associations between ELC and CVRF has been performed in a single study.
methodsPopulation-based study (n = 4635, 46.7% men) conducted between 2009 and 2012 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
resultsEight hundred six participants (17.4%) had an ELC. Presence of ELC was associated with male gender and older age. After adjusting for age and gender (and medication whenever necessary), presence of ELC was significantly (p < 0.05) associated with higher levels of body mass index (BMI) [adjusted mean ± standard error: 27.0 ± 0.2 vs. 26.02 ± 0.07 kg/m(2)], triglycerides [1.40 ± 0.03 vs. 1.36 ± 0.01 mmol/L] and insulin [8.8 ± 0.2 vs. 8.3 ± 0.1 μIU/mL]; lower levels of HDL cholesterol [1.61 ± 0.02 vs. 1.64 ± 0.01 mmol/L]; higher frequency of abdominal obesity [odds ratio and (95% confidence interval) 1.20 (1.02; 1.42)]; hypertension [1.41 (1.18; 1.67)]; diabetes [1.43 (1.15; 1.79)]; high HOMA-IR [1.19 (1.00; 1.42)]; metabolic syndrome [1.28 (1.08; 1.51)] and history of CVD [1.55 (1.21; 1.98)]. No associations were found between ELC and estimated cardiovascular risk, inflammatory or liver markers. After further adjustment on BMI, only the associations between ELC and hypertension [1.30 (1.08; 1.56)] and history of CVD [1.47 (1.14; 1.89)] remained significant. For history of CVD, further adjustment on diabetes, hypertension, total cholesterol and smoking led to similar results [1.36 (1.05; 1.77)].
conclusionIn this community-based sample ELC was significantly and independently associated with hypertension and history of CVD.
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