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. 1990 Oct;80(10):1200–1204. doi: 10.2105/ajph.80.10.1200

The association of corneal arcus with coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease mortality in the Lipid Research Clinics Mortality Follow-up Study.

L E Chambless 1, F D Fuchs 1, S Linn 1, S B Kritchevsky 1, J C Larosa 1, P Segal 1, B M Rifkind 1
PMCID: PMC1404822  PMID: 2400030

Abstract

The relationship between corneal arcus (arcus senilis) and mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is examined in a prospective study of White men (n = 3,930) and women non-hormone users (n = 2,139), ages 30-69, followed for an average of 8.4 years as part of the Lipid Research Clinics Mortality Follow-up Study. After excluding those with clinically manifest CHD at baseline, corneal arcus was strongly associated with CHD and CVD mortality only in hyperlipidemic men ages 30-49 years, for whom the relative risk for CHD and CVD death was 3.7 and 4.0, respectively, after adjusting for age, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and smoking status using a Cox proportional hazards model. Among 30-49 year old males, corneal arcus appears to be a prognostic factor for CHD, independent of its association with hyperlipidemia in this age-group, of about the same magnitude as other common risk factors, underscoring the usefulness of corneal arcus as a prognostic factor to the practicing clinician.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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