Earlobe crease shapes and cardiovascular events.

Earlobe crease (ELC) has been linked to coronary artery disease; however, systematic evaluations of the earlobe and its relation to ischemic stroke are lacking. The objectives were to define the ELC using a single-blind approach and to determine through multivariate analysis its association with cardiovascular events (CVEs) comprising coronary, ischemic cerebrovascular, and peripheral vascular diseases. A single-blind cross-sectional study was performed in 2 phases: (1) an initial study (n = 300) to define ELC classification criteria and (2) a confirmation stage (n = 1,000) to analyze ELC association with CVEs.