Male baldness indicates heart disease risk
Washington: Male pattern
baldness is linked to an increased risk of coronary heart disease, but only if
it`s on the top/crown of the head, a new study has revealed.
A receding hairline is not
linked to an increased risk, the analysis indicates.
The researchers from University
of Tokyo trawled the Medline and the Cochrane Library databases for research
published on male pattern baldness and coronary heart disease, and came up with
850 possible studies, published between 1950 and 2012.
But only six satisfied all the
eligibility criteria and so were included in the analysis. All had been
published between 1993 and 2008, and involved just under 40,000 men.
Three of the studies were
cohort studies - meaning that the health of balding men was tracked for at
least 11 years.
Analysis of the findings from
these showed that men who had lost most of their hair were a third more likely
(32 percent) to develop coronary artery disease than their peers who retained a
full head of hair.
When the analysis was confined
to men under the age of 55-60, a similar pattern emerged. Bald or extensively
balding men were 44 percent more likely to develop coronary artery disease.
Analysis of the other three
studies, which compared the heart health of those who were bald / balding with
those who were not, painted a similar picture.
It showed that balding men were
70 percent more likely to have heart disease and those in younger age groups
were 84 percent more likely to do so.
Three studies assessed the
degree of baldness using a validated scale (Hamilton scale). Analysis of these
results indicated that the risk of coronary artery disease depended on baldness
severity, but only if this was on the top/crown of the head, known as the
vertex.
Extensive vertex baldness
boosted the risk by 48 percent, moderate vertex baldness by 36 percent, and
mild vertex baldness by 18 percent. By contrast, a receding hairline made very
little difference to risk, the analysis showed.
The study is published in the
online journal BMJ Open.
ANI
