News Article
Study Links Male Baldness to Heart Risk
January 24, 2000
CHICAGO-The greater the hair loss on the top of a man's head, the higher his risk of having heart problems, according to researchers who say they've confirmed previous studies linking baldness with heart disease.
The new report, published Monday, says men who are losing hair on the crown of their heads have up to a 36 percent greater risk of heart problems, including heart attacks and bypass surgery.
Study findings:
Compared to men with no hair loss:
- Men whose crowns were completely bald had a 36 percent greater risk of having a coronary event, such as a heart attack, angina, or heart surgery including angioplasty or bypass surgery.
- Men with frontal baldness had a 9 percent greater risk of coronary heart disease.
- Men with mild balding of the crown were at 23 percent higher risk.
- Men with moderate crown balding had a 32 percent greater risk.
- Balding men with high cholesterol levels had almost three times the risk for heart disease when compared with men with a full head of hair who also had high cholesterol.
Source: Archives of Internal Medicine
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Men with a receding hairline are not at increased risk, but those going bald at the crown should pay special attention to their blood pressure and cholesterol levels and lead a healthy lifestyle, researchers said. "It's similar to having a family history for a disease. You can't alter your family history or your baldness, but there are many ways to modify your risk factors," said Dr. JoAnn Manson, one of the study's authors and chief of preventative medicine at Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Manson's study appears in the Archives of Internal Medicine, a publication of the Chicago-based American Medical Association. 22,000 men studied over 11 years Past studies have confirmed a link between hair loss and heart problems, but this study is among the largest. It also is one of the first to include detailed information about different patterns of baldness and to identify the risk pattern in men of all ages. The study, co-authored by several doctors in Boston, analyzed baldness patterns of 22,000 male doctors who were 40 to 84 years old when enrolled in the Physician's Health Study. Eleven years into the study, the researchers asked the doctors to describe their patterns of baldness at age 45. Out of the total pool sampled, about 1,500 men reported a coronary event. Balding men accounted for 62 percent of that total. Possible explanation: Elevated testosterone The authors suggest one possible biological explanation for the increased risk: The bald men had elevated levels of testosterone and a hormone it converts into, dihydrotestosterone. Previous studies have suggested elevated testosterone levels may contribute to increased risk for hypertension and abnormal cholesterol levels. Manson said it is a hypothesis that merits further study. But Dr. Philip Greenland, a cardiologist at Northwestern University, does not support more studies focusing on baldness as a marker for heart disease. "Papers like this actually divert attention from the primary message," Greenland said. "About 80 to 90 percent of what we need to prevent heart disease is already known. The problem is that addressing those behaviors is something a lot of Americans don't want to do, so they are looking for other excuses." Established risk factors for heart disease include hypertension, high blood pressure and cholesterol, and a sedentary lifestyle. The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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