Japanese study finds link between baldness, heart disease

NEW YORK — Men who go bald may be at increased risk of heart disease, according to a new study by researchers in Japan.

The researchers, at the University of Tokyo School of Medicine, examined data on 36,690 men, finding that those who experienced vertex baldness were 1.32 times more likely to experience coronary heart disease than those without baldness and those who experienced frontal baldness.

The study, based on previously published medical studies, appeared on April 3 in the journal BMJ Open.

"Vertex baldness, but not frontal baldness, is associated with an increased risk of [coronary heart disease," the researchers wrote. "The association with CHD depends on the severity of vertex baldness and also exists among younger men. Thus, vertex baldness might be more closely related to atherosclerosis than frontal baldness, but the association between male pattern baldness and CHD deserves further investigation."