BALDNESS AND ISCHEMIC-HEART-DISEASE IN A NATIONAL SAMPLE OF MEN

A weak positive association between male pattern baldness and ischemic heart disease has been suggested previously. The authors examined thi s issue by using data from the Epidemiologic Follow-up Study of the Fi rst National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. As part of the b aseline medical examination between 1971 and 1975, the presence and de gree of male alopecia (none, minimal, moderate, and severe) were recor ded for a subset of participants. Among 3,932 men aged 25-76 years who had complete data, 378 deaths and 939 incident events from ischemic h eart disease occurred during an average follow-up period of 14 years. Among 2,019 men who were younger than age 55 years at baseline (61 dea ths and 239 incident events of ischemic heart disease), severe baldnes s was positively associated with ischemic heart disease mortality (rat e ratio = 2.51, 95% confidence interval 1.01-6.24) and somewhat less a ssociated with ischemic heart disease incidence (rate ratio = 1.72, 95 % confidence interval 0.96-3.08). No dose-response relation with degre e of baldness was seen. Although these findings are tempered by the ab sence of information concerning the type of baldness (frontal or verte x), they provide support for earlier studies that indicate male patter n baldness that occurs before age 55 years may be by some mechanism re lated to ischemic heart disease.