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A study conducted by University of Copenhagen biochemist Dr. Anne Tybjaerg-Hansen and colleagues suggests that signs of aging can also be seen as symptoms for heart diseases.

A study report that was presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions in Los Angeles and conducted by University of Copenhagen biochemist Dr. Anne Tybjaerg-Hansen and colleagues states that the phrase "Old by age but young at heart" may not entirely be true. The research that they carried out included the study of more than 100,000 people aged over 35 years.

It was found that people who showed three to four signs of aging were at a 57 percent higher risk of heart attacks and a 37 percent higher risk of heart diseases.

"The visible signs of aging reflect physiologic or biological age, not chronological age, and are independent of chronological age," said Anne Tybjaerg-Hansen, M.D., the study's senior author and professor of clinical biochemistry at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark in a statement.

The signs of aging included receding hairline at the temples, baldness at the crown of the head, earlobe creases, and yellow fatty deposits around the eyelids.

"Individually and combined, these signs predicted heart attack and heart disease independent of traditional risk factors," said the American Heart Association. "Fatty deposits around the eye were the strongest individual predictor of both heart attack and heart disease."

In the study, nurses and laboratory technicians noted the quantity of gray hair, prominence of wrinkles, the type and extent of baldness, the presence of earlobe crease and eyelid deposits.

"Checking these visible aging signs should be a routine part of every doctor's physical examination," Tybjaerg-Hansen said.

The highest risks were observed among those in their 70s and those with several signs of aging.