Earlobe Crease and Atherosclerosis

Abstract

The association between earlobe crease (ELC) and coronary and aortic atherosclerosis in 100 autopsied men ranging in age from 50 to 79 years, who died free of vascular diseases or related conditions, was studied in conjunction with blood pressure and serum total cholesterol (TC) levels. Earlobe crease was graded and defined as groups 1, 2, and 3 according to the depth and length in both ears. The extent of atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries and aortas was visually graded. Coronary atherosclerosis was significantly more severe in group 3 in all the decades examined than in groups 1 or 2. Aortic atherosclerosis in group 3 was significantly greater than in group 1 in all the decades examined, and was greater than in group 2 in the seventh and eighth decades. The TC level was significantly higher in group 3 than in groups 1 or 2 except in the sixth decade. Multivariate regression analyses demonstrated that the degree of ELC was dependent on the extent of coronary and aortic atherosclerosis, but was independent of age. Conversely, the extent of coronary atherosclerosis was dependent on the degree of ELC, but was independent of age. The extent of aortic atherosclerosis was, however, dependent not only on the appearance of ELC and TC, but on age. It is thus concluded that ELC provides a significant external marker for atherosclerosis and may reflect a persistent overload of atherosclerosis risk factors, such as TC.

Diagonal Earlobe Crease are Associated With Shorter Telomere in Male Japanese Patients With Metabolic Syndrome A Pilot Study

“…Prior studies reported that the degree of ELC was related to the extent of coronary atherosclerosis, 13,15 and in the present study, the total ELC score tended to increase with the number of affected coronary vessels; however, the difference among the subgroups did not reach a statistically significant level. These associations or tendencies are not statistically significant because, at least in part, of the small sample size in this study.…”

“…The ELC score in each case represented the total points for both ears. 15 Bilateral ELC in the present study was defined as a score ≥3.…”

“…[10][11][12][13][14] Moreover, ELC has also been found to be a marker not only of CAD, but also of generalized atherosclerosis. 15,16 However, the lack of a theoretical foundation for a causal relationship between ELC and atherosclerosis inhibits the clinical value. In previous studies, elastic degeneration of connective tissue and, in a few cases, vascular sclerosis have been observed, leading to speculation regarding premature aging of connective tissue in general as a cause of the correlation between ELC and arteriosclerosis.…”

Flow Patterns in the Dog Descending Aorta under a Steady Flow Condition Simulating Mid-Systole

“…Some investigators consider that the reason why the preferred sites of atherosclerotic lesions are located on the posterior wall of the thoracico-abdominal aorta is due to the presence of the intercostal arteries in the thoracic aorta and the lumbar arteries in the abdominal aorta on the posterior wall (2) . However, the existence of these arteries cannot account for the fact that the lesions are more severe in the region where the four major arteries branch off (3) . The present work could account for this finding.…”

“…• C) using a very dilute suspension of a mixture of 50, 80, 115, 230, and 330 µm-diameter polystyrene microspheres (density ρ s = 1.06 g/cm 3 , Duke Scientific, Palo Alto, Calif., USA) in methyl salicylate containing ethanol at 5% by volume (density ρ = 1.16 g/cm 3 , viscosity µ = 0.026 g/cm sec) as a substitute for blood. After the aortic tree and the entire flow system were filled with the suspension, the fluid was subjected to steady flow through the aortic tree, and the flow rates in the ascending aorta and eight major branches of the aortic tree were set to their desired values by adjusting the height of the head tank and each collecting reservoir.…”