Clues May Help Prevent Heart Issues If Recognized

Every once in a while a short article on a “recent health study” jumps out because it is both relevant and helpful – with real potential for helping individuals discover previously undiagnosed health issues. Danish researchers tracked the health and physical appearance of 11,000 people aged 40 and older over the course of 35 years; there were a number of statistically relevant health conclusions that came out of this remarkable accumulation of information.

As discussed in the November 23 issue of The Week (a magazine calling itself “The Best of the U.S. and International Media,” with “All You Need to Know About Everything that Matters”), appearance can provide significant clues to underlying health. “People who look older than others their age are more likely to have heart problems that can shorten their lives.”

Cardiovascular problems were found to be “more prevalent among those who had at least one of four signs of aging – receding hairline at the temples, baldness at the crown of the head, creases in the earlobes, or yellow, fatty deposits around the eyes. People with three of the markers were 57 percent more likely to have a heart attack and 39 percent more likely to have heart disease – even if they had no conventional heart-disease risk factors, such as excessive weight, high cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, or a family history of heart disease. The heart-disease risk was even greater for people over 70 who looked older than others their age.”

Researchers suggested that the findings “should give clinicians greater incentive to treat patients who show these physical signs.” Of addition interest is the fact that the researchers are not sure what links those four aging markers to heart disease, and, other common signs of aging (such as wrinkles and graying hair) “don’t appear to have a significant correlation with heart health.”