The risk of bald men suffering from coronary artery heart disease is higher compared to men with hair; a study has shown. However, researchers say frontal balding is less fatal than top balding as this article continues to explain. While a data analysis shows that there is a direct link between male pattern baldness and heart disease, this does not apply for baldness that occurs at the front of the head but rather on the crown

baldness only.

Frontal balding and top balding

The University of Tokyo worked alongside a team of researchers to check databases of Medline and Cochrane Library for past research trying to associate male pattern baldness with coronary heart disease. From 1950 to 2012 there were more than 850 researches that studied this association. Despite this, only six of them were in line with criteria for eligibility applied by the researchers who were used as reference material during the analysis. These studies had all been published from 1993 and 2008 with the studies done on a number of men not exceeding 40000 men.

Of the studies, three of them we

re continuous studies in which the health status of the bald men was tracked for a period of 11 years and more. According to the initial analysis, most of the men who had suffered excessive hair loss had a 32% higher risk of developing coronary artery ailment unlike men with a larger portion of their head having hair. After the study was conducted specifically on men aged between 55 and 60 years, men with extensive baldness had a 44% more likelihood of developing coronary artery ailment.

When analysis on studies that compared bald men from men not experiencing hair loss was done, the health of the heart revealed similar results as in the case above. Men with pattern baldness had a likelihood of 70% for suffering from coronary heart disease. Also, younger men had a higher percentile of 84% having health problems.

The degree of male baldness on heart disease

Three of the studies also aimed at assessing the extent of male baldness on heart disease by use of the Hamilton validated scale. As per the findings of the study, the severity of the baldness has a direct effect on the risk of developing coronary heart disease. However, this only applied to vertex or baldness on the head crown.

While there is no doubt that male pattern baldness is directly linked to heart disease, there are varied explanations why this is the case. However, one of the key explanations holds that baldness indicates insulin resistance in men which is a recipe for diabetes. In addition, baldness increases the sensitivity of men to testosterone which can lead to coronary heart disease. Factors leading to cardiovascular ailments should be carefully reviewed especially for men with crown baldness so that they can improve the risk profile of their cardiovascular for the better.