A man who develops early onset baldness is at a high risk for prostate cancer, according to a study in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
In the study, African-American men with baldness were found 69 percent more likely to develop prostate cancer, compared with those with the male "syndrome".
Black men who developed frontal baldness at a younger age were at even higher risk for high grade or high stage prostate cancer, according to the study.
About the study
Charnita Zeigler-Johnson from Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA and colleagues, authors of the study, reported that early-onset baldness has been associated with prostate cancer in previous studies. Their study was intended to examine if this association can also be applied to African American men.
For the study, 318 African-American men with diagnosed prostate cancer and 219 without the disease as controls were recruited. Considered in the study were diseases with a high stage (T3/T4) or high grade (Gleason 7+) diseases in relation to a range of factors including androgen metabolism genotypes, family history, alcohol consumption and smoking status. The associations between the factors and prostate cancer were examined by baldness status and age group in multivariate analysis.
The researchers found that the overall prostate cancer risk was 69 percent higher among African American men who had baldness. Frontal baldness was associated with an even higher risk for high stage (161 percent higher) or high grade (120 percent) prostate cancer.
They also found men who developed frontal baldness at the age of 60 or younger were at least six times as likely as those without baldness to develop high state prostate cancer or four times as likely as those without baldness to develop a high grade disease.
Other studies
Another study recently published in Cancer Causes and Control also suggests that androgenetic alopecia in this case baldness may indicate a high risk for prostate cancer.
Steve Freedland from Duke Prostate Center, Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC and colleagues ocnducted the case-control study of 708 men, 167 with prostate cancer and 312 healthy and found early on-set baldness was significantly associated with increased risk of prostate cancer.
Overall, balding was associated with more than twofold increase in high grade prostate cancer. The increase in risk of more aggressive prostate cancer was even more significant in those who had frontal balding.
In Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevenntion, a study published last month also suggests that being bald predicts a high risk for prostate cancer.
David C. Muller from from Cancer Epidemiology Centre, Cancer Council of Victoria in Australia and colleagues analysed data from the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study and found that men at any age of up to 76 years with vertex were at higher risk for prostate cancer, compared with those without androgenetic alopecia at age of 40 years.
Vertex androgenetic alopecia at 40 years were more likely to develop aggressive prostate cancer at a younger age.
Take-home message
High levels of male hormones have been associated with higher risk of prostate cancer. High levels of male hormones have also been associated with male baldness. Therefore, it is not surprising that high risk of prostate cancer was found in men with baldness.
High levels of testosterone slow the growth of hair particularly on the head. Dihydrotestosterone - a metabolite of testosterone through the male hormone receptors stimulates the growth of the prostate, increasing the risk of prostate cancer. Studies also show high levels of testosterone can promote the growth of prostate cancer.
So what can a man do to reduce prostate cancer risk? Prior research has suggested that eating lots of meat and dairy products may increase risk of prostate cancer whereas eating lots of plant-based foods may reduce the risk. Meat and dairy products are known to promote the production of hormones.
Prostate cancer is diagnosed in more than 230,000 men in the United States each year, according to the National Cancer Institute. The good news is that this disease in most cases is not aggressive and easy to control. And the disease can be prevented by following a lifestyle and diet that is protective against prostate cancer and other malignancies.
