Bbc Article: Hair Loss Linked To Higher Chance Of Death-related Stuff

[tjnpdx]

I know this isn’t particularly new, but I just seethe at these damn articles.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-42164898

(Paraphrasing) “Well, you can’t change the fact that you’re greying or experiencing male pattern baldness, but you should definitely watch that cholesterol and blood pressure!” Article begins with, and I quote: “Male pattern baldness and premature greying are more of a risk factor for heart disease than obesity in men under 40, new research suggests.”

All that’s being done in the hairloss world, as far as research goes, is great; but the unparalleled ignorance in regards to how these things are actually perceived, not just in terms of mental health (which no person with either of these problems would ever expect someone else to pay any mind to), but in terms of physical, is grotesque.

 

[MedicinallyCompetent]

I know this isn’t particularly new, but I just seethe at these damn articles.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-42164898

(Paraphrasing) “Well, you can’t change the fact that you’re greying or experiencing male pattern baldness, but you should definitely watch that cholesterol and blood pressure!” Article begins with, and I quote: “Male pattern baldness and premature greying are more of a risk factor for heart disease than obesity in men under 40, new research suggests.”

All that’s being done in the hairloss world, as far as research goes, is great; but the unparalleled ignorance in regards to how these things are actually perceived, not just in terms of mental health (which no person with either of these problems would ever expect someone else to pay any mind to), but in terms of physical, is grotesque.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4409601/


The jury is still out on balding and CAD. There's really not enough evidence to show that balding correlates to CAD, anyone who says otherwise isn't medically literate.

That being said even if they were correlated - tsuji and all the other methods wouldn't do anything for the potentially increased risk of CAD.

 

[tjnpdx]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4409601/


The jury is still out on balding and CAD. There's really not enough evidence to show that balding correlates to CAD, anyone who says otherwise isn't medically literate.

That being said even if they were correlated - tsuji and all the other methods wouldn't do anything for the potentially increased risk of CAD.

To be honest, I've not opened the science on this as I should have, but I've seen these articles for the last two years. This one just seemed to be saying, "Well, we were wrong, it's MORE of a risk factor than previously thought."

As to your second point, that's sort of why it's so ridiculous. You can't expect people to abandon their conception of balding as a 'natural thing' for men, especially older men; but when there's thought to be a correlation between balding and life-threatening health problems, you'd think there'd be people wanting to get up under that.

 

[MedicinallyCompetent]

As to your second point, that's sort of why it's so ridiculous. You can't expect people to abandon their conception of balding as a 'natural thing' for men, especially older men; but when there's thought to be a correlation between balding and life-threatening health problems, you'd think there'd be people wanting to get up under that.

It isn't thought that. Medical students aren't taught that. Cardiologists do not believe there's enough evidence to demonstrate it yet. There's evidence pointing both ways at this point which usually means it's a non-factor. More evidence could come out later that makes this association more concrete but right now there's not enough to say it's an independent risk factor.

 

[Pavi]

Maybe it’s a coincidence? Many men bald. Many men have heart disease. Many men have terrible lifestyles. How can they ever make a direct correlation? Balding is a dominant trait in men btw

 

[Juan1991]

It isn't thought that. Medical students aren't taught that. Cardiologists do not believe there's enough evidence to demonstrate it yet. There's evidence pointing both ways at this point which usually means it's a non-factor. More evidence could come out later that makes this association more concrete but right now there's not enough to say it's an independent risk factor.

The BBC article mentions 2 studies. The recent one from india, in which 2,000 young men in India showed more who had coronary artery disease were prematurely bald or grey than men with a full head of hair. And another one of 37000 people from Japan that said balding men were 32% more likely to have coronary heart disease.

I searched a little bit in pubmed and found some more studies:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3853891/
"Patients with Androgenetic Alopecia appear to be at an increased risk of developing CAD, therefore, clinical evaluation of cases with Androgenetic Alopecia of grade II and above may be of help in preventing CAD in future."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4124697/
"This study implies early onset Androgenetic Alopecia in male is independently associated with CAD, though mechanisms need to be investigated."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23554099
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23554099
"Vertex baldness, but not frontal baldness, is associated with an increased risk of CHD" (Coronary Heart Disease)."The association with CHD depends on the severity of vertex baldness and also exists among younger men. Thus, vertex baldness might be more closely related to atherosclerosis than frontal baldness, but the association between male pattern baldness and CHD deserves further investigation."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25150481
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25150481
"Alopecia is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease, and there appears to be a dose-response relationship with degree of baldness whereby the greater the severity of alopecia, the greater the risk of coronary heart disease. Alopecia is also associated with an increased risk of hypertension, hyperinsulinaemia, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and having elevated serum total cholesterol and triglyceride levels."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11455846
"Our results support the hypothesis that the early onset of Androgenetic Alopecia is a risk factor for an early onset of severe coronary heart disease."​

There seems to be many more so If anyone is interested you definetely can go deeper. The only study I have found that didn't found a correlation was this one.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25911010
There was no relation between presence, severity and age of occurrence of male pattern baldness and Gensini and Rentrop scores, which are important measures of presence and severity of CAD.
​

Of course, not all studies are equal or provide the same amount of evidence to the table. The quality of the studies is at least as important as the quantity, if not more. Regardless of that and based on my rapid search about the topic, I think it's safe to say that there's a worrisome correlation between heart disease and baldness. Specialy if you are young.

If someone can find more studies that show the contrary share them here so we all can check them out.

 

[IdealForehead]

The BBC article mentions 2 studies. The recent one from india, in which 2,000 young men in India showed more who had coronary artery disease were prematurely bald or grey than men with a full head of hair. And another one of 37000 people from Japan that said balding men were 32% more likely to have coronary heart disease.

I searched a little bit in pubmed and found some more studies:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3853891/
"Patients with Androgenetic Alopecia appear to be at an increased risk of developing CAD, therefore, clinical evaluation of cases with Androgenetic Alopecia of grade II and above may be of help in preventing CAD in future."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4124697/
"This study implies early onset Androgenetic Alopecia in male is independently associated with CAD, though mechanisms need to be investigated."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23554099
"Vertex baldness, but not frontal baldness, is associated with an increased risk of CHD" (Coronary Heart Disease)."The association with CHD depends on the severity of vertex baldness and also exists among younger men. Thus, vertex baldness might be more closely related to atherosclerosis than frontal baldness, but the association between male pattern baldness and CHD deserves further investigation."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25150481
"Alopecia is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease, and there appears to be a dose-response relationship with degree of baldness whereby the greater the severity of alopecia, the greater the risk of coronary heart disease. Alopecia is also associated with an increased risk of hypertension, hyperinsulinaemia, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and having elevated serum total cholesterol and triglyceride levels."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11455846
"Our results support the hypothesis that the early onset of Androgenetic Alopecia is a risk factor for an early onset of severe coronary heart disease."​

There seems to be many more so If anyone is interested you definetely can go deeper. The only study I have found that didn't found a correlation was this one.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25911010
There was no relation between presence, severity and age of occurrence of male pattern baldness and Gensini and Rentrop scores, which are important measures of presence and severity of CAD.
​

Of course, not all studies are equal or provide the same amount of evidence to the table. The quality of the studies is at least as important as the quantity, if not more. Regardless of that and based on my rapid search about the topic, I think it's safe to say that there's a worrisome correlation between heart disease and baldness. Specialy if you are young.

If someone can find more studies that show the contrary share them here so we all can check them out.

Maybe we should just think of this as nature's way of showing us sad mercy and letting us check out early.

That said if you don't want to go this way, drink veggie shakes daily, exercise, get sardines/salmon for omega 3s, avoid beef/pork, avoid fried or junk foods, keep sugar intake low, use olive oil to cook, don't drink too much, don't smoke, exercise regularly, and keep your bmi under 25.

Probably doing all of the above would be enough to compensate for the balding effect but who really knows.

 

[kiwipilu]

not so long ago I read greying hair was sign of good health...Damn I am doomed ^^
...

"Altogether, it goes too far to say that bald is beautiful, but for many men it might be reassuring that male baldness is not significantly associated with CAD."

maybe not (flipping a coin..)

 

[Juan1991]

Maybe we should just think of this as nature's way of showing us sad mercy and letting us check out early.

That said if you don't want to go this way, drink veggie shakes daily, exercise, get sardines/salmon for omega 3s, avoid beef/pork, avoid fried or junk foods, keep sugar intake low, use olive oil to cook, don't drink too much, don't smoke, exercise regularly, and keep your bmi under 25.

Probably doing all of the above would be enough to compensate for the balding effect but who really knows.

Agree. Having a good Vit D level is also an important factor to add to your list.

I think the key thing to extrapolate from all this is that baldness is not only an aesthetic issue. It's a symptom of a deeper metabolic problem. We should be mindful about it and be extra careful about our health.