Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Apr 3;3(4):e002537.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2012-002537. Print 2013.

Male pattern baldness and its association with coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis

Tomohide Yamada  1 , Kazuo Hara, Hitomi Umematsu, Takashi Kadowaki
Affiliations

Male pattern baldness and its association with coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis

Tomohide Yamada et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objective: To confirm the association between male pattern baldness and coronary heart disease (CHD).

Design: Meta-analysis of observational studies.

Data sources: Medline and the Cochrane Library were searched for articles published up to November 2012 using keywords that included both 'baldness' and 'coronary heart disease' and the reference lists of those studies identified were also searched.

Study selection: Observational studies were identified that reported risk estimates for CHD related to baldness. Two observers independently assessed eligibility, extracted data and assessed the possibility of bias.

Data synthesis: The adjusted relative risk (RR) and 95% CI were estimated using the DerSimonian-Laird random-effect model.

Results: 850 possible studies, 3 cohort studies and 3 case-control studies were selected (36 990 participants). In the cohort studies, the adjusted RR of men with severe baldness for CHD was 1.32 (95% CI 1.08 to 1.63, p=0.008, I(2)=25%) compared to those without baldness. Analysis of younger men (<55 or ≤60 years) showed a similar association of CHD with severe baldness (RR 1.44, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.86, p=0.006, I(2)=0%). In three studies employing the modified Hamilton scale, vertex baldness was associated with CHD and the relation depended on the severity of baldness (severe vertex: RR 1.48 (1.04 to 2.11, p=0.03); moderate vertex: RR 1.36 (1.16 to 1.58, p<0.001); mild vertex: RR 1.18 (1.04 to 1.35, p<0.001)). However, frontal baldness was not associated with CHD (RR 1.11 (0.92 to 1.32, p=0.28)).

Conclusions: Vertex baldness, but not frontal baldness, is associated with an increased risk of CHD. The association with CHD depends on the severity of vertex baldness and also exists among younger men. Thus, vertex baldness might be more closely related to atherosclerosis than frontal baldness, but the association between male pattern baldness and CHD deserves further investigation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of study selection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Association of baldness with coronary heart disease (CHD) in the three cohort studies. The forest plot shows the association between male pattern baldness and the risk of CHD. RR, relative risk.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Association of baldness with coronary heart disease (CHD) in the three case–control studies. The forest plot shows the association between male pattern baldness and the risk of CHD. RR, relative risk.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Association of baldness with coronary heart disease (CHD) in studies using the modified Hamilton scale. The forest plot shows the association between male pattern baldness and the risk of CHD. RR, relative risk.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Lopez AD, Mathers CD, Ezzati M, et al. Global and regional burden of disease and risk factors, 2001: systematic analysis of population health data. Lancet 2006;367:1747–57 - PubMed
    1. Lerner DJ, Kannel WB. Patterns of coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality in the sexes: a 26-year follow-up of the Framingham population. Am Heart J 1986;111:383–90 - PubMed
    1. Young LH, Wackers FJ, Chyun DA, et al. DIAD Investigators. Cardiac outcomes after screening for asymptomatic coronary artery disease in patients with type 2 diabetes: the DIAD study: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA 2009;301:1547–55 - PMC - PubMed
    1. McEvoy JW, Blaha MJ, Nasir K, et al. Impact of coronary computed tomographic angiography results on patient and physician behavior in a low-risk population. Arch Intern Med 2011;171:1260–8 - PubMed
    1. Olsen EA. Androgenetic alopecia. In: Olsen EA, ed. Disorders of hair growth: diagnosis and treatment. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1994:257–83