ArticlePloS one2025
Is the human face a biomarker of health? - A scoping review.
Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Facial Asymmetry and Sexuality in Women.Archives of sexual behavior · 2026Article
- Association between frankfurt horizontal-referenced vertical position of the maxillary first molar and mandibular asymmetry: a cross-sectional study.The Saudi dental journal · 2026Article
- How Sex Shapes Facial Morphology in Adults: A 3D Geometric Morphometric Study.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The Role of Perceived Health in Preferences for Average Face Shapes.Evolutionary psychology : an international journal of evolutionary approaches to psychology and behaviorArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There is a widespread assumption that facial features could act as a biomarker of human developmental stability and thus provide an important cue to an individual's physical and mental health status. However, research to date shows mixed support for this assumption. This is the first review that explores the association between various aspects of health and facial features, namely symmetry, averageness, and sexual dimorphism in adults. We searched electronic databases including Web of Science, MEDLINE PubMed, Scopus, and Embase. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines for reporting of our results. Of the 702 screened articles, 21 were eligible for inclusion. Studies presented various relationships between facial features and cardiovascular health; immunocompetence; oxidative stress level; cortisol level; reproductive health; cognitive health, and general physical health. This review results in an inconclusive answer to the question of whether facial features can serve as honest indicators of health. The results warrant caution when utilizing facial features as a biomarker of health status and biological condition of an individual. Protocol: Open Science Framework, https://osf.io/dv9pu/.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.