Early Baldness May Predict Prostate Cancer Risk

Male hormones (androgens) contribute to male pattern baldness (androgenic alopecia) as well as prostate cancer. Philippe Giraud, from the Hopital Europeen Georges Pompidou (France), and colleagues studied whether early-onset male pattern baldness increased the risks of prostate cancer later in life.  The team studied 388 men with a history of prostate cancer and 281 without the disease. They found that the subjects with prostate cancer were twice as likely to have early balding, as compared with healthy controls.  However, the researchers found no link between hair loss at age 20 and early diagnosis of prostate cancer or tumor aggressiveness. Submitting that: “This study shows an association between early-onset androgenic alopecia and the development of prostate cancer,” the researchers write that: “Whether this population can benefit from routine prostate cancer screening or systematic use of 5-alpha reductase inhibitors as primary prevention remains to be determined.”