Certain bald men have a higher risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer

Men with a certain pattern of baldness at age 45 had a 39% increased risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer versus men with no baldness, a new U.S. study found.

Researchers said the finding adds to evidence of a hormone-based, biological link between baldness and prostate cancer, but added that more studies would be needed to support whether baldness patterns should be part of a screening system. Until more research is available, men shouldn't be overly concerned about baldness patterns, The Wall Street Journal says.

The hair-loss pattern associated with a higher risk was frontal baldness plus moderate baldness on the vertex, or crown of the head, which about 10% of the men in the study recalled having at age 45. Other patterns—frontal only, and frontal plus mild or severe vertex baldness—weren't associated with an increased risk of aggressive prostate cancer. The results of the study were published online Monday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The finding arose from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial, a large study started in the early 1990s by the National Cancer Institute to determine whether certain screening methods reduce cancer death rates.

In one segment of the trial, from 2006 to 2008, researchers provided questionnaires to men asking them to choose one of five illustrations that most closely resembled their hair-loss patterns at the age of 45, based on memory. The median age of the approximately 39,000 men who responded to the survey was about 70.

After a median follow-up period of 2.8 years after they responded to the survey, about 1,140 cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed. About half of them were classified as aggressive.

About 53% of the total group recalled some form of male-pattern baldness at age 45. Overall, men who had any of the baldness patterns at the age of 45 didn't have a statistically significant increased risk of any form of prostate cancer later in life, versus men with no baldness.

However, men with frontal plus moderate vertex balding—about 10% of the men in the study—had a 39% increased risk of aggressive prostate cancer versus men with no baldness. Researchers called this a statistically significant finding, meaning it wasn't likely due to chance.

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