A new study from Denmark has found that yellow marks on a person's eyelids can predict the likelihood of heart attacks and other illnesses and says that dermatologists should be alerted about this sign.

Researchers said that patients with yellow blobs or xanthelasmata were 48% more likely to have a heart attack, 39% more likely to have developed heart disease and 14% more likely to have died during the study, the BBC reported.

"Most people with xanthelasmata are seen by dermatologists, when they want their xanthelasmata removed for cosmetic reasons," said researchers in a study published by the British Medical Journal.

"Some of these people may not have been managed according to their increased risk of cardiovascular disease," they said.

In the United States, heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study followed 12,745 patients in since 1970s at the Herlev Hospital in Denmark.

Researchers noted that xanthelasmata predicted risk of heart attacks, ischemic heart disease, severe atherosclerosis, and death in the general population, independently of well-known cardiovascular risk factors, including plasma cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations.