Baldness a bad omen for the ticker

[Belle]

Premature greying or baldness could be a surer sign of an impending heart attack than smoking, obesity, high blood pressure or even diabetes, scientists have found.

But the researchers do not know if an eroding hairline directly triggers heart disease, or is simply a sign of rapid biological ageing that puts the heart under extra strain.

An Indian study has found that younger men with pattern baldness are six times as likely as their average peers to develop heart disease by the time they turn 40, while greying hair increases the threat more than fivefold.

Obesity, the next most critical risk factor, raises the danger fourfold. High cholesterol and blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and family history of heart disease were all found to be less influential.

The findings, presented yesterday at the Cardiological Society of India’s annual conference in Kolkata, come from examinations of more than 2000 men aged under 40. Almost two out of five had been diagnosed with coronary heart disease.

The participants were subjected to coronary angiograms, cardiac echo exams and blood tests. The researchers found that those who rated highly in a four-point scale of baldness or a five-point scale of hair whitening tended to have far more complex and severe tissue damage in the blood vessels around their hearts.

Team leader Kamal Sharma, of the UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre in Ahmedabad, said baldness and premature greying should be considered risk factors in their own right. He said they could help clinicians judge biological rather than chronological age, giving them a better idea of patients’ “total cardiovascular risk”.

Doctors use common sense to estimate biological age, he said, “but a validated scale is needed”.

Lead author Dhammdeep Humane said prematurely grey or balding men should receive extra monitoring for coronary artery disease.

("The Australian", 1 December, 2017)

[John F]

This isn't news, actually. A long and interesting piece in the Huffington Post says there have been six previous studies with similar conclusions - but while they indicate a "statistical link," they don't tell whether there's causation, and if so then what is cause and what is effect. "These studies found an association," says cardiologist Nieca Golberg, M.D., a clinical associate professor at the NYU School of Medicine. "but it’s far from an established risk factor, such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol."

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/ ... 44657.html

As for the Indian study, the number of men in their 30s or younger whose hair has already gone white or gone away must be a tiny percentage. Have you ever met one, or do you know of any? I don't, except possibly Dmitri Hvorostovsky. And of course it wasn't heart disease but cancer that killed him.

[Belle]

My 36y/o son is practically bald; his great grandfather lost all his hair before his mid 20s and lived to be nearly 90. He died in 1963 before statins or any other drugs were available. He drank lots of beer, though, if that helps - because he had owned several hotels (not all at once).

I feel that Dmitri's hair was probably the subject of 'chemical intervention'!!