Early Hair Loss May Put Men At Risk For Prostate Cancer

Men Who Experience Balding In Their 20s May Be At Risk For Developing Prostate Cancer.

 

CNN (2/16, Falco) in its “The Chart” blog reports, “Men who start losing their hair at 20 may be twice as likely to get prostate cancer later in life,” according to a study in the Annals of Oncology. The researchers studied “388 men with prostate cancer and 281 healthy men and asked how bald they were at age 20, 30 and 40.” They found that when a “man’s hair began to thin in his 30s or 40s, the risk for prostate cancer did not go up.” But any “type of balding [at age 20] is a risk factor for prostate cancer,” suggested lead author Dr. Michael Yassa of the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal, Canada.

Bloomberg News (2/16, Von Schaper) adds that early hair loss was associated with prostate cancer risk, but not with “earlier onset of cancer or a more severe course of the disease,” the study found.

MedPage Today (2/15, Smith) pointed out that the study did not control for “other prostate cancer risk factors, ‘such as African heritage or dietary differences,'” although the researchers said having a “family history of prostate cancer was comparable in cases and controls.”

Meanwhile, according to HealthDay (2/15, Mozes), the study authors said more research is needed to determine whether “men who experience youthful hair loss may benefit from prostate cancer screening. … ‘At present, there is no hard evidence to show any benefit from screening the general population for prostate cancer,'” said study author Dr. Philippe Giraud from the European Georges Pompidou Hospital in Paris. Medscape (2/15, Osterweil) noted that Dr. Yassa said further research should focus on “finding the exact link between hair loss, androgens, and prostate cancer — what exactly links those three together.”

Reuters (2/16, Kelland) and the UK’s Press Association (2/16) and Telegraph (2/16, Adams) also cover the study

Tags: balding, hair loss, prostate, prostate cancer