A Japanese study shows that bald men are more at risk of developing coronary heart disease, but only if their baldness affects the tonsure.
Does baldness increase heart risk? This is what seems to reveal a Japanese study published on April 4, 2013 in the BMJ Open according to which bald men are more at risk of developing coronary heart disease but only if their baldness affects the tonsure.
Researchers at the University of Tokyo analyzed six studies on male pattern baldness and coronary heart disease conducted between 1993 and 2008 in the United States and Europe, and affecting 40,000 people. Men who lost most of their hair had a statistical 32% higher risk than others of developing coronary heart disease. A level of risk which, according to the researchers, would only affect men who lose their hair at the top of the head, that is to say in the area of the vertex.
Indeed, according to the authors of the study, ” alopecia of the head of the skull is significantly associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease in young men as well as in all participants, and this association depends on the severity of the baldness “.
The links between baldness and these conditions remain for the moment still mysterious. This is why these results are already disputed by some. For Doireann Maddoc of the British Heart Foundation, interviewed in the Guardian, more research needs to be done and there is no cause for alarm. ” It is more important to pay attention to your waistline than your hairx “, specifies the scientifc.
Despite these reservations, ” cardiovascular risk factors should therefore be monitored closely in men with tonsure, especially younger ones “, the researchers conclude. The authors of the study, however, want to be cautious about the conclusions, and they too consider it necessary to confirm them with other studies. According to their work, 30% to 40% of adult men suffer from baldness, a rate that can reach 80% by the age of 80.
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