{"id":11836,"date":"2011-09-15T18:51:18","date_gmt":"2011-09-15T22:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/?post_type=news&#038;p=11836"},"modified":"2011-09-15T18:51:18","modified_gmt":"2011-09-15T22:51:18","slug":"xanthelasmata-identified-as-independent-cv-risk-factor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/2011\/09\/15\/xanthelasmata-identified-as-independent-cv-risk-factor\/","title":{"rendered":"Xanthelasmata Identified as Independent CV Risk Factor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a large new study from Denmark, xanthelasmata (raised yellow patches around the eyelids) but not arcus cornae (white or grey rings around the cornea) was found to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease.<\/p>\n<p>In\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bmj.com\/cgi\/doi\/10.1136\/bmj.d5497\">an article in\u00a0<em>BMJ<\/em><\/a>, Mette Christoffersen and colleagues report on 12,745 adults in Copenhagen without cardiovascular disease at baseline who were followed for a mean of 22 years. At baseline, 4.4% had\u00a0xanthelasmata and 24.8% had arcus corneae. Here are the main results, comparing the group without xanthelasmata to the group with\u00a0xanthelasmata:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>MI:<\/strong>\u00a065 events versus 121 events \u00a0per 10,000 person-years\u00a0(multifactorial-adjusted HR for xanthelasmata, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.23-1.79).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ischemic heart disease:<\/strong>\u00a0134 versus 226 events per 10,000 person-years (multifactorial-adjusted HR for xanthelasmata, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.20-1.60)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ischemic stroke:<\/strong>\u00a053 versus 64 events per 10,000 person-years (multifactorial-adjusted HR for xanthelasmata, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.73-1.21)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ischemic cerebrovascular disease:<\/strong>\u00a065 versus 74 events per 10,000 person-years (multifactorial-adjusted HR for xanthelasmata, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.72-1.15)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Total deaths:<\/strong>\u00a0293 versus 414 events per 10,000 person-years (multifactorial-adjusted HR for xanthelasmata, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.04-1.26)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>\n<p>The authors write that their results &#8220;suggest that xanthelasmata are a cutaneous marker of atherosclerosis independent of lipid concentrations and thus should be considered in clinical practice as an independent and additional risk factor for myocardial infarction and ischaemic heart disease.&#8221; They say the findings may be especially useful in places with limited access to laboratories.<\/p>\n<p>In\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bmj.com\/cgi\/doi\/10.1136\/bmj.d5304\">an accompanying editorial<\/a>, Antonio Fernandez and Paul Thompson write that people with xanthelasmata &#8220;may have an enhanced biological propensity to deposition of cholesterol in vascular and soft tissue, which is not fully represented by their fasting lipid profiles. Because xanthelasmata are composed of foam cells similar to those present in atherosclerotic plaque, they may be a better marker than arcus corneae of the intra-arterial atherosclerotic process.&#8221; Therefore, they conclude, these patients &#8220;may therefore require more aggressive management of risk factors.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a large new study from Denmark, xanthelasmata (raised yellow patches around the eyelids) but not arcus cornae (white or grey rings around the cornea) was found to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. In\u00a0an article in\u00a0BMJ, Mette Christoffersen and colleagues report on 12,745 adults in Copenhagen without cardiovascular disease at baseline who [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[271,981],"class_list":["post-11836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prevention","tag-risk-factors","tag-xanthelasmata"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11836\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}