Looking old may be sign of heart problems

COPENHAGEN

If you look old, your heart may feel old, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2012, Science Daily has reported.

In a new study, those who had three to four aging signs, receding hairline at the temples, baldness at the head’s crown, earlobe crease, or yellow fatty deposits around the eyelid, had a 57 percent increased risk for heart attack and a 39 percent increased risk for heart disease.

“The visible signs of aging reflect physiologic or biological age, not chronological age, and are independent of chronological age,” said Anne Tybjaerg-Hansen, the study’s senior author and professor of clinical biochemistry at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

Researchers analyzed 10,885 participants 40 years and older in the Copenhagen Heart Study. Of these, 7,537 had frontoparietal baldness, 3,938 had crown top baldness, 3,405 had earlobe crease, and 678 had fatty deposits around the eye. The highest risk was for those in their 70s and those with multiple signs of aging. “Checking these visible aging signs should be a routine part of every doctor’s physical examination,” Tybjaerg-Hansen said.