Baldness, premature greying may up heart disease risk: study

Men below 40 years of age who are going bald and dealing with premature greying are at five-fold risk of developing heart disease, a study warns.

The study, presented at the 69th Annual Conference of the Cardiological Society of India (CSI) in Kolkata, included 790 men aged less than 40 years with coronary artery disease and 1,270 age-matched healthy men who acted as a control group.

The researchers found that young men with coronary artery disease had a higher prevalence of premature greying (50 per cent versus 30 per cent) and male-pattern baldness (49 per cent versus 27 per cent) compared to healthy controls.

After adjusting for age and other cardiovascular risk factors, male-pattern baldness was associated with a 5.6 times greater risk of coronary artery disease and premature greying was associated with a 5.3 times greater risk.

"The incidence of coronary artery disease in young men is increasing but cannot be explained by traditional risk factors," said author Sachin Patil, from the UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre in Gujarat.

"Premature greying and androgenic alopecia (male-pattern baldness) correlate well with vascular age irrespective of chronological age and are plausible risk factors for coronary artery disease," Patil said.

Male-pattern baldness and premature greying were the strongest predictors of coronary artery disease in young men followed by obesity, which was associated with a 4.1 times greater risk.

Diabetes mellitus, hypertension, family history of premature coronary artery disease, central obesity, higher body mass index, dyslipidaemia and smoking were predictors of coronary artery disease but to a lesser extent than male- pattern baldness, premature greying, and obesity.

"Baldness and premature greying should be considered risk factors for coronary artery disease. These factors may indicate biological, rather than chronological, age which may be important in determining total cardiovascular risk," said Kamal Sharma, from the UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre.

"Currently physicians use common sense to estimate biological age but a validated scale is needed," Sharma said.