5 Key Points
- The relationship between a diagonal ear lobe crease (DELC) and
cardiovascular disease has been known about for over 45 years but some
have suggested it is a result of a confounding factor and there have
been no studies in otolaryngology publications.
- We performed a PRISMA based systematic review and meta-analysis
involving 12 studies and 4960 patients.
- Findings from our study suggest:
- Patients with DELC have a 4x increased likelihood of having Coronary
Artery Disease (CAD) (OR 4.61 P<0.00001).
- The relationship between DELC and CAD is independent of age and all
other conventional cardiovascular risk factors and that bilateral
DELC has a stronger association with CAD than unilateral DELC.
- Presence of DELC has insufficient sensitivity / specificity to be
used as a diagnostic test for cardiovascular disease but instead
should be used as a risk marker.
Key words: Ear lobe crease, earlobe, Frank’s sign, coronary
disease