BALDNESS AND CORONARY HEART-DISEASE RATES IN MEN FROM THE FRAMINGHAM-STUDY

The authors assessed the relation between the extent and progression o f baldness and coronary heart disease. Baldness was assessed twice, in 1956 and in 1962, in a cohort of 2,017 men from Framingham, Massachus etts. Extent of baldness was classified in terms of number of bald are as: no areas bald (n = 153), one area bald (n = 420), two areas bald ( n = 587), and all areas bald (n = 857). Men who were assessed both tim es and who had two or fewer bald areas during the first evaluation wer e classified into one of three groups: ''mild or no progression,'' ''m oderate progression,'' or ''rapid progression.'' The cohort was follow ed for up to 30 years for new occurrences of coronary heart disease, c oronary heart disease death, cardiovascular disease, and death due to any cause. The relations between the extent and progression of baldnes s and the aforementioned outcomes were assessed using a Cox proportion al hazards model, adjusting for age and other known cardiovascular dis ease risk factors. Extent of baldness was not associated with any of t he outcomes. However, the amount of progression of baldness was associ ated with coronary heart disease occurrence (relative risk(RR) = 2.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3-4.4), coronary heart disease mortalit y (RR = 3.8, 95% CI 1.9-7.7), and all-cause mortality (RR = 2.4, 95% C I 1.5-3.8), Rapid hair loss may be a marker for coronary heart disease .