Early Baldness May Increase Prostate Cancer Risk

Posted on Apr 15, 2013 in Research

Philly.com (philly.com) – Is Early Baldness in Blacks a Clue to Prostate Cancer? – By Kathleen Doheny – (Wednesday, March 27, 2013)
Black men with early hair loss may have a heightened risk of developing prostate cancer, researchers report.

This study of more than 500 black men found that those “who have baldness by age 30 are more likely to develop prostate cancer,” said researcher Charnita Zeigler-Johnson, a research assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, in Philadelphia.

Researchers have looked at baldness as a potential risk factor for prostate cancer for years, but studies to date have produced conflicting findings. The new research is believed to be the first to focus only on blacks, Zeigler-Johnson said. Blacks in the United States get prostate cancer more often than other men and are more than twice as likely to die of the disease.