April 11, 2017.
According to a study conducted by a team of researchers from Cairo University, Egypt, the early onset of gray hair may be linked to a risk of cardiovascular disease. Explanations.
Gray hair, a sign of a heart attack?
Having gray hair can be a sign of old age, stress, or heart disease. In any case, this is what reveals an Egyptian study presented on the occasion of EuroPrevent 2017, the annual Congress of the European Association of Cardiology held in Malaga, Spain. According to this work, cardiovascular risks could indeed be detected following hair discoloration.
To reach this conclusion, the researchers asked nearly 550 male volunteers to have a CT scan. Then, they separated these participants into two groups: those who had coronary artery disease (a disease of the arteries that supply the heart) and those who were perfectly healthy. The researchers then looked at the color of the men’s hair.
An increased cardiovascular risk?
They were thus able to observe that the grayer the hair, the higher the risk of developing coronary artery disease. These results were confirmed regardless of the age of the participants. ” Aging is a risk factor for heart disease and it is also associated with dermatological signs that could signal an increased cardiovascular risk. », Analyzed Dr Irini Samuel, cardiologist at Cairo University, who led this work.
But how to explain this phenomenon? According to the authors of this study, hair changes color due to stress which creates an imbalance between the cells and which plays a role in accelerating the process of degradation of the melanocytes (the cells which pigment the skin). Clearly, when hair is turning gray, it could be the harbinger of a heart attack.
Marine Rondot
Read also: Heart attack and angina pectoris: the first steps
