The diagonal ear-lobe crease, detectable especially after the age of 40, is still accepted as a sign of coronary heart disease risk. In the literature some authors report an association between anxiety and coronary heart disease. In our work a group of 143 patients with ear-lobe crease showed - in both sexes and in all examined decades (5th, 6th, 7th) - higher levels of anxiety than in the control group. The possible significance of the crease has been considered on the grounds of present knowledge of ear-acupuncture and the somatotopic mapping of CNS on the ear-lobe.
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OmuraY, Acupuncture Medicine: Its Historical and Clinical Background, Japan Publications, Inc., Tokyo, Japan, 1982.
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OlesonTDKroeningRJBreslerDE, An experimental evaluation of auricular diagnosis: the somatotopic mapping of musculoskeletal pain at ear acupuncture points. Pain. 8: 217-229,1980.
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BourdiolRJ, Elements dAuriculotherapie. Maisonneuve, Moulins-Les-Metz, 1980.
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