Male hair loss signals later risk

Wednesday February 16th, 2011

Young men who start losing their hair early in life face an increased risk of a male cancer later, researchers warned today.

Experts say the link is likely to indicate the role of some male hormones in triggering the cancer.

Professor Philippe Giraud of the Paris Descartes University, France, and colleagues looked for a potential link, because the male sex hormones called androgens are involved in both male pattern baldness and prostate cancer.

They recruited 669 men: 388 with prostate cancer and 281 without. The participants described their balding pattern at the age of 20, at 30 and at 40. Medical history was taken from the men's doctors.

Those who developed prostate cancer were twice as likely to have begun to go bald at the age of 20, analysis showed. Going bald later on was not associated with prostate cancer risk.

But the team report in Annals of Oncology: "There was no association between early-onset alopecia [male pattern baldness] and an earlier diagnosis of prostate cancer, or with the development of more aggressive tumours."

They add that this population may benefit from routine prostate cancer screening or preventative medication such as finasteride, which is used to treat hair loss and has been shown to decrease prostate cancer risk.

Professor Giraud said: "At present there is no hard evidence to show any benefit from screening the general population for prostate cancer.

"We need a way of identifying those men who are at high risk of developing the disease and who could be targeted for screening and also considered for chemo-prevention using anti-androgenic drugs."

Balding at the age of 20 may be an easily identifiable risk factor, but more research is needed to confirm this.

Yassa, M. et al. Male pattern baldness and the risk of prostate cancer. Annals of Oncology, published online February 16, 2011.

Tags: Cancer | Dermatology | Europe | Men’s Health

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