Male pattern baldness linked to prostate problems

Granada, Spain - Spanish researchers have found that early-onset androgenetic alopecia (AGA), commonly known as male pattern baldness, may be a marker of urinary symptoms associated with an enlarged prostate.

HealthDay News reports that researchers at San Cecilio University in Granada conducted an observational case-control study of 45 men with early-onset AGA (mean age, 52.7 years) and 42 control subjects (mean age, 49.8 years). Prostatic volume and urinary flow were both measured, a hormone study was performed on all participants, and the International Prostate Symptom Score and International Index of Erectile Function score was assessed.

Researchers found that patients with AGA had significantly higher mean prostate volume, International Prostate Symptom Score and prostate-specific antigen levels. Patients with AGA also had significantly lower maximum urinary flow compared with controls. There was also a strong association between the presence of AGA and benign prostatic hyperplasia after adjusting for a number of variables.

“There is a relationship between the presence of AGA and prostate-growth-associated urinary symptoms, likely attributable to their pathophysiological similarity,” the authors wrote. “This study suggests that early-onset AGA may be an early marker of urinary/prostatic symptomatology. Future studies may clarify whether treatment of patients with AGA may benefit the concomitant benign prostatic hypertrophy, which would be present at an earlier stage in its natural evolution.”

The study was published in the March issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

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