Earlobe type, race, and age: effects on earlobe creasing.

There has been much discussion of the utility and validity of the earlobe crease as a warning sign of cardiovascular disease. The authors postulated that the mixed findings were due to the neglect of three variables: age, race, and earlobe shape. Age and earlobe shape were studied in 324 healthy adult subjects from three racial groups: southwestern Alaskan Eskimos (70), Navajos (167), and whites (87). It was found that creases develop with age in healthy adults, that creasing is related to earlobe shape, that the age of onset of creasing varies according to race, and that the frequencies of occurrence of different earlobe shapes differ by race. Future studies of earlobe creases should therefore include the variables of age, race, and earlobe shape.