Male Pattern Baldness Associated with Fatal Prostate Cancer

[Dean Pomerleau]

Here is a crazy study [1] that Al came across (thanks Al!) that appears legit.

 

It found that men who suffered from moderate "male pattern baldness" had an 83% higher risk of developing fatal prostate cancer then men with a full head of hair. It seems that male pattern baldness, otherwise know as androgenic alopecia, results from exposure of hair follicles to the hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT) which is synthesized from testosterone. So the authors suggest that male pattern baldness is a proxy for higher long-term testosterone exposure, which seems to be associated with elevated risk of fatal prostate cancer. 

 

So practicing CR, which appears to reduce total and free testosterone in men, may not (only?) extend our lives, but may help us keep our hair and avoid dying from prostate cancer. :-)

 

--Dean

 

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[1] Am J Epidemiol. 2016 Feb 1;183(3):210-7. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwv190. Epub 2016 Jan 12.

 

Male Pattern Baldness in Relation to Prostate Cancer-Specific Mortality: A Prospective Analysis in the NHANES I Epidemiologic Follow-up Study.

 

Zhou CK, Levine PH, Cleary SD, Hoffman HJ, Graubard BI, Cook MB.

 

http://sci-hub.io/10.1093/aje/kwv190

 

Abstract

 

We used male pattern baldness as a proxy for long-term androgen exposure and investigated the association of dermatologist-assessed hair loss with prostate cancer–specific mortality in the first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Epidemiologic Follow-up Study. From the baseline survey (1971–1974), we included 4,316 men who were 25–74 years of age and had no prior cancer diagnosis. We estimated hazard ratios and used Cox proportional hazards regressions with age as the time metric and baseline hazard stratified by baseline age. A hybrid framework was used to account for stratification and clustering of the sample design, with adjustment for the variables used to calculate sample weights. During follow-up (median, 21 years), 3,284 deaths occurred; prostate cancer was the underlying cause of 107. In multivariable models, compared with no balding, any baldness was associated with a 56% higher risk of fatal prostate cancer (hazard ratio = 1.56; 95% confidence interval: 1.02, 2.37), and moderate balding specifically was associated with an 83% higher risk (hazard ratio = 1.83; 95% confidence interval: 1.15, 2.92). Conversely, patterned hair loss was not statistically significantly associated with all-cause mortality. Our analysis suggests that patterned hair loss is associated with a higher risk of fatal prostate cancer and supports the hypothesis of overlapping pathophysiological mechanisms.

 

PMID: 26764224