|
HowToPreventHeartDisease.com |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Yellow Eyelid Marks Could Be Sign of Heart Disease! Some people, usually older folks though it could happen to youngsters too, have those little yellow flat plaques over the upper or lower eyelids, most often near the inner part of the eye. These tiny marks look something like chicken fat and are often seen as cosmetic issue. In reality, people with such marks could be victims of heart disease and should seek medical examination. This is because researchers from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark found that these patches, known as ‘xanthelasma’, were predictors of heart attack, heart disease and death. Their findings were published on September 15, 2011 in ‘British Medical Journal’. Xanthelasma (also known as xanthelasma palpebrarum) are common for Asians and people from the Mediterranean region. Such condition can happen to men and women in the 40s and 50s. While these marks might not be harmful or painful, they might not look good and can be removed by dermatologists with a trichloroacetic acid peel, surgery, lasers or cryotherapy. For decades, doctors have known that this kind of eye condition was a possible sign of high cholesterol. In fact, about half of the cases are linked to higher than average cholesterol levels. People with a condition called familial hypercholesterolemia often have xanthelasma. Hypercholesterolemia is the presence of high levels of cholesterol in the blood. It is not a disease but a metabolic disorder that can be caused by many diseases particularly cardiovascular disease.
The researchers surveyed 12,745 people who had participated in the Copenhagen City heart Study. Aged between 20 and 93 and free of heart disease when the study began, these individuals were followed from 1976 to 1978 until May 2009 with 100 percent complete follow-up. At the outset of the study, 563 (or 4.4 percent) of the participants had xanthelasma. During the follow-up period, 1,872 individuals had a heart attack, 3,699 developed heart disease, 1,498 had a stroke, 1,815 got cerebrovascular disease and 8,507 died. The results showed that men and women in all age groups, the risk of getting a heart attack, developing heart disease or dying within a 10-year period increased in individuals with xanthelasma. The hike in risk was independent of other well-known risk factors like gender, smoking, obesity, or high blood pressure and cholesterol levels. For men aged between 70 and 79, the risk was the highest. Those with xanthelasma had a 53 percent increased risk comparing with the 41 percent risk for men without xanthelasma, or an absolute increase of 12 percent. For women, the corresponding figures were 35 and 27 percent respectively or an absolute rise of 8 percent. Nevertheless, prevalence of xanthelasma was similar in men and women. In fact, it is a more reliable sign of heart disease in women because of their lower overall risk. According to researchers, presence of xanthelasma was a slightly better indicator of heart attack and heart disease in women than in men, and in those who aged below 55 years old compare to those who aged 55 and above. The reason behind this is that male sex and age have both been identified as risk factors for heart attack and heart disease. Xanthelasma just adds to the predetermined risk in men and in older people. Women have a smaller inherent risk of getting heart attack and heart disease, so the presence of xanthelasma has a correspondingly higher predictive value. The researchers also pointed out that presence of xanthelasma could help doctors identify patients who might be at risk of heart disease and other conditions, and their findings could particularly be useful for societies that lack laboratory facilities for measuring lipid profile. Some doctors generally agreed the findings highlighted the importance of comprehensive physical examination to assist general clinicians identify patients at increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Others argued that there are so many different techniques for predicting people’s risk of getting heart disease in the future yet none of which were perfect. The most important consideration is which one of these techniques is used in the first place.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright
2007-2012 © HowToPreventHeartDisease.com . All Rights Reserved.d........ |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
