According to a recent Indian study, male pattern baldness and premature aging of hair could be linked to five times the risk of getting heart disease before the age of 40.
A team of researchers at the UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Center in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, investigated a possible relationship between premature aging of hair and alopecia in young men Indians.
The researchers recruited 790 men under 40, all with coronary heart disease, and 1,270 healthy men of the same age to serve as a control group.
The researchers analyzed the scalp of each participant, giving them a score of 0 (nil) to 3 (severe) assessing the degree of their baldness .
Early aging of the hair was graded according to the percentage of gray or white hair, from 1 (pure black) to 5 (pure white).
The researchers then compared scores indicating prematurely aged hair and alopecia with the complexity and severity of angiographic lesions, indicative of coronary artery disease.
The team found that young men with coronary artery disease had a tendency to bleach prematurely (50% vs. 30%) and also had higher baldness (49% vs. 27%) than men of the control group.
After taking into account several cardiovascular risk factors, including age, the results showed that men with baldness were 5.6 times more likely to suffer from coronary heart disease, the figure being 5.3 for men hair having bleached prematurely.
Although baldness and premature hair graying are the most obvious indicators of coronary artery disease, obese men are 4.1 times more likely to suffer prematurely from the disease.
Diabetes, high blood pressure, a family history of premature coronary artery disease, central obesity, a high body mass index (BMI), dyslipidemia (an abnormal level of lipids in the blood), and smoking are also indicators. coronary heart disease, but to a lesser degree.
Dr. Dhammdeep Humane, director of the study, says: ” Men with prematurely gray hair and with androgenic alopecia should benefit from better coronary care, as well as advice to change their habits: healthy diet, exercise and management Our study has revealed an association, but it is still necessary to prove the existence of a cause-and-effect relationship before recommending statins to men with baldness or premature graying . “
