Bald head, weak heart? Looking old may signal greater heart disease risk

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Want a clue to your risk of heart disease? Look in the mirror. New research suggests that people with certain signs of aging have a greater chance of developing heart disease than younger-looking people the same age do.

The study involved 11,000 people in Denmark whose appearance was mapped at the start. Thirty-five years later, researchers found that those with receding hairlines, bald heads, wrinkles near their ear lobes or bumpy deposits on their eyelids were more likely to have had a heart attack or clogged arteries than those without one of these four signs.

One consolation: wrinkles elsewhere on the face and grey hair did not bring greater risk and seemed normal consequences of aging.

The study was discussed Tuesday at an American Heart Association conference in Los Angeles.