Male pattern baldness and sex hormones in relation to myocardial infarction

Abstract EN

To examine an association between baldness in men and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) that occurs before age 55 years, and their relations to endogenous hormones, we examined ninety men -with first AMI and thirty control subjects.

Their age was 44.3± 1.1 Ys (range 35 - 55).

It was found that vertex pattern baldness was found in a significant (P<0.01) higher number ofpatients (no=50, 55.6%) than that of controls (n = 8, 26.7%) of the same age group.

The age adjusted relative risk (RR) estimate for men with severe vertex baldness compared with men with no baldness was 2.7 (95 % CI 1.7-4.8); for lesser degree of hair loss, risk was lower.

The association was present regardless of the other studied risk factors of coronary artery disease.

Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) was highly significantly lower (P<0.0001) among patients with AMI than controls.

The value was still significantly lower in patient with severe hair loss than those with no baldness Testosterone (T), Estradiol (E), E/T ratio, and Cortisol were significantly higher among patients with AM than controls (P < 0.05, < 0.0001,<0.0001,<0.0001 respectively).

The values of the previous studied hormones were still significant in patients with vertex pattern baldness than controls with the same degree of hair loss.

However, there was no significant relation between the studied hormones and the severe degree of hair loss within the AMI patients group.

Correlation between the studied hormones, showed a negative significant correlation between DHEAS and E/T ratio.

Conclusion: These data support the hypothesis that male pattern baldness (MPB) involving the vertex baldness is associated with a higher incidence of coronary artery disease in men under the age of 55 years.

MPB is clearly not a direct risk factor for AMI, but rather a marker for other underlying risk factors.

DHEAS levels are inversely related to AMI and severe hair loss.

Testosterone, Estradiole and Cortisol levels are significantly higher in patients than controls.

However, their levels are not significantly related to the degree of hair loss among patients with AMI.