According to a new study presented at the American Heart Association annual meeting Tuesday signs of aging like hair loss, hairline receding at the temples, earlobe creases and yellow fatty deposits around the eyelids can also be early symptoms of heart problems.
Anne Tybjaerg-Hansen, senior author of the study and professor at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, said in a press release: "The visible signs of aging reflect physiologic or biological age, not chronological age, and are independent of chronological age." She urged to have examined any visible signs of aging. "Checking these visible aging signs should be a routine part of every doctor's physical examination," she added.
The researchers from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark learned from the study which included nearly 11,000 people aged over 40 who enrolled in the study that people found with at least three signs of aging were at a 57 percent higher risk of heart attack and a 39 percent risk for heart disease.
Looking old than your age is an indicator of poor health and heart condition says Tybjaerg-Hansen. "Our study shows that aging signs may mark poor cardiovascular health and therefore validates the prognostic importance of this very simple clinical exam."
"Because some aging signs are independent of well-known cardiovascular risk factors, individuals with these signs should perhaps be treated more aggressively with regard to lifestyle changes and lipid-lowering therapy," she added.
American Heart Association said in light of the study: "Individually and combined, these signs predicted heart attack and heart disease independent of traditional risk factors. Fatty deposits around the eye were the strongest individual predictor of both heart attack and heart disease."
According to a report published in "Bloomberg" the researchers who were involved in the study which included 10,885 men and women cited that 7,537 had receding hairline at the temples, 3,938 had baldness at the crown of the head, 3,405 had a crease in their earlobe and 678 had fatty deposits around the eye, also known as "xanthelasmata."
