Earlobe crease and atherosclerosis. An autopsy study.

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.