Washington (SmartAboutHealth) – A new study has found a link between premature baldness, and an increased risk of prostate cancer later in life.
Researchers led by Michael Yassa focused on a group of 699 patients who were all either middle-aged or older.
Out of that group, 388 of them were said to be suffering from prostate cancer during the study.
The idea was to see if there was any correlation between early baldness and prostate cancer later in life.
What researchers found is that people who developed baldness early, in their 20s, were far more likely to suffer from prostate cancer later in life.
The belief is that this is due to high testosterone levels in these people, as well as genetic traits that are linked between the two diseases.
Overall, the risk of prostate cancer later in life for these men who developed premature baldness was said to be doubled.
Prostate cancer is extremely common, and kill a quarter-million people each and every year.
The study has been published in the Annals of Oncology.
