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Your earlobes may hold a sneaky clue about future heart disease

Nypost · 🇺🇸 public United States · · 481 words · By Rachel Sacks
Cardiovascular health Medical Diagnostics
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What to know about Cardiovascular health

Your earlobes may hold a sneaky clue about future heart disease See more of our coverage in your search results.

Claims checked 14
Techniques found 1
Topics 2

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center80%
Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Your earlobes may hold a sneaky clue about future heart disease See more of our coverage in your search results.

Why it matters

Add The New York Post on GoogleYou should be all ears about this stealthy sign of heart health.

Common ground

The leading cause of death in the US, the American Heart Association (AHA) warns that 61% of American adults will likely develop some type of cardiovascular disease.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/06/07/health/your-earlobes-may-hold-a-sneaky-clue-about-…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 1 propaganda technique in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning
Loaded Language 80% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 14 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 7
schedule Pending 4
help Insufficient Evidence 2
info Single Source 1
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Claim 1: “The diagonal crease was named after Dr. Sanders T. Frank, who observed the crease in multiple patients under 60 with angina (chest pain) or proven coronary artery blockages.”
CORROBORATED
Two independent web sources (Stanford Medicine and another health site) confirm that Dr. Sanders T. Frank observed this crease in patients under 60 with angina or coronary artery disease.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Frank W. Gibb (died 1932) was an architect in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) during 1901–1917 He is credited with design work for 60 courthouses i…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_W._Gibb
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Granite Flats is an American television series, the first original scripted drama series produced by BYUtv. The show is set in a small Colorado town in the early 1960s during the Cold War, and follows…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granite_Flats
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Larry Sanders Show is an American television sitcom set in the office and studio of a fictional late-night talk show. Created by Garry Shandling and Dennis Klein, the show ran for six seasons and …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Larry_Sanders_Show
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 2: “How the crease appears can also determine how severe the risk of cardiovascular conditions is, with an incomplete wrinkle on only one ear the least severe and a complete, bilateral crease the most.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 3: “atherosclerosis, or when arteries become narrow and hard due to plaque buildup and can lead to a heart attack or stroke.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
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Claim 4: “Other theories suggest that a genetic factor causes the wrinkle, as a link between heart attacks and ear creases is apparent in different ethnic populations.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info
Claim 5: “the American Heart Association (AHA) warns that 61% of American adults will likely develop some type of cardiovascular disease”
SINGLE SOURCE
Only one web search result explicitly mentions the 61% figure attributed to the AHA. Other results mention different statistics (50% by age 45) or general risk factors, but do not corroborate the specific 61% claim.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — American Heart is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Benson Boone, released on June 20, 2025, through Night Street and Warner Records. It was preceded by the release of the singles …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Heart_(Benson_Boone_a…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate cardiac c…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Heart_Association
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The American Medical Association (AMA) is an American professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. This medical association was founded in 1847 and is headquartered …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Medical_Association
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 6: “Those with a crease had a higher risk of death from heart complications, independent of other risk factors, like age, smoking and diabetes.”
CORROBORATED
Both AOL and another health source explicitly state that the crease is associated with a higher risk of heart complications independent of risk factors like age, smoking, and diabetes.
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web search NEUTRAL — Those with a crease had a higher risk of death from heart complications, independent of other risk factors, like age, smoking and diabetes.A diagonal crease on the earlobe, known as Frank's sign, has …
https://www.aol.com/articles/earlobes-may-hold-sneaky-clue-1…
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web search NEUTRAL — For example, experts associate earlobe crease with greater CAD risk in the general population, independent of traditional risk factors such as smoking, aging, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/ear-crease-heart-a…
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web search NEUTRAL — A close up of an earlobe crease with a circle around it. A distinctive earlobe crease on an elederly man's ear. Fairfax Media Archives/Getty Images. Many researchers have studied the predictive value …
https://www.businessinsider.com/reference/earlobe-crease-cad…
schedule
Claim 7: “one study found that those with Frank’s sign and CAD have low levels of adropin and irisin (a type of protein).”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
help
Claim 8: “Some medical experts believe that a loss of elastin and elastic fibers causes it, the same process that damages arteries in coronary artery disease.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results regarding the medical theory of elastin loss as the cause of Frank's sign.
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Claim 9: “A diagonal ear crease was also linked to ischemic cerebrovascular events, like transient ischemic attack (mini-stroke) and stroke, in a 2017 study.”
CORROBORATED
AOL and a specific 2017 study (Nazzal et al.) confirm the link between diagonal ear creases and ischemic cerebrovascular events such as strokes and transient ischemic attacks.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 2017 (MMXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2017th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 17th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21s…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — It (titled onscreen as It Chapter One) is a 2017 American supernatural horror film directed by Andy Muschietti and written by Chase Palmer, Cary Joji Fukunaga, and Gary Dauberman. It is the first of a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_(2017_film)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — S.W.A.T. is an American action drama television series based on the 1975–76 television series of the same name. Aaron Rahsaan Thomas and Shawn Ryan developed the new series, which premiered on CBS on …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.W.A.T._(2017_TV_series)
+ 3 more evidence sources
help
Claim 10: “the connection between an ear crease and heart disease risk was especially strong when the crease was the complete length of the lobe, bilateral (appearing on both ears), deep and had accessory creases.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results regarding the specific characteristics (bilateral, deep, full-length) that make the correlation strongest.
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Claim 11: “Known as Frank’s sign, this marker is a diagonal crease or wrinkle in the earlobe that’s strongly associated as being a predictor of heart disease.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple medical sources (PMC-NIH, and other research papers) confirm that Frank's sign is a diagonal earlobe crease associated with coronary artery disease.
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web search NEUTRAL — Feb 18, 2022 ... The presence of this sign, referred to as the diagonal earlobe crease (DELC), has been associated with coronary artery disease (CAD), independent of other ...
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9106634/
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web search NEUTRAL — Oct 11, 2023 ... Diagonal earlobe crease is independently associated with higher values for the predictive indices of cardiovascular risk. Although the ...
https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(23)00615-0/fulltex…
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web search NEUTRAL — In 1973, it was postulated that Frank's sign, also known as a Diagonal Earlobe Crease (DELC), could serve as a cutaneous marker for CAD.,Frank's sign may ...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1752928X2…
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Claim 12: “Classic signs of heart trouble can appear as shortness of breath, chest pain, fatigue, irregular heartbeat or swollen legs.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent sources (AOL, Acibadem Health Point, and a medical doctor's site) list shortness of breath, chest pain, fatigue, irregular heartbeat, and swollen legs as signs of heart trouble.
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web search NEUTRAL — Classic signs of heart trouble can appear as shortness of breath, chest pain, fatigue, irregular heartbeat or swollen legs. But one other sneaky sign is a mark or crease in the earlobe that's increasi…
https://www.aol.com/articles/earlobes-may-hold-sneaky-clue-1…
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web search NEUTRAL — Irregular heartbeat or abnormal heart rhythm, affecting the heart’s ability to pump blood effectively. Valvular Heart Disease.A: Symptoms of heart disease include chest pain and shortness of breath. F…
https://www.acibademhealthpoint.com/cat/health-library/heart…
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web search NEUTRAL — Heart Failure doesn’t always announce itself with dramatic symptoms; instead, it can manifest subtly. Recognizing early warning signs like chest discomfort, unexplained fatigue, and shortness of breat…
https://www.drganeshcardio.com/post/early-warning-signs-of-h…
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Claim 13: “Larger studies have also linked this sign to peripheral vascular disease, cerebrovascular disease and coronary artery disease (CAD)”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources, including a study on cerebral predictors and Stanford Medicine, link the sign to coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, and cerebrovascular disease.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — A diagonal earlobe crease (DELC), also known as Frank's sign, correlates with a myriad of cardiovascular diseases such as coronary artery disease, ...
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5856409/
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web search NEUTRAL — Jul 2, 2015 ... After the initial identification in patients with coronary artery disease there have been larger studies documenting the presence of DELC in ...
https://med.stanford.edu/stanfordmedicine25/blog/archive/201…
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web search NEUTRAL — Apr 28, 2017 ... Frank's sign was described as a predictor of future coronary heart disease and peripheral vascular diseases. The aim of the study was to examine ...
https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(17)30403-5/fulltex…
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Claim 14: “The study also noted that those with Frank’s sign and traditional factors associated with heart disease, such as type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, had a higher risk.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources discuss the additive risk of Frank's sign when combined with traditional factors like type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
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web search NEUTRAL — ... factors such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, smoking, and dyslipidemia enfold heart disease morbimortality. Diagonal earlobe crease has been ...
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11213639/
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web search NEUTRAL — Talk to your doctor about your heart-disease risk if you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or other risk factors. EDITORIAL SOURCES.
https://www.everydayhealth.com/heart-health/franks-sign-and-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 3, 2025 ... Dr. Frank Sanders in 1973 connected the creased earlobe to coronary artery disease.|Are meridians in the lobes that go to the heart?
https://www.facebook.com/WebMD/posts/also-called-franks-sign…
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.