Baldness, births studied for link to heart disease

SAN DIEGO — Baldheaded men and mothers who bear five or more children develop blood cholesterol patterns that might raise their risk of heart disease, according to studies released Friday.

In a study of 872 electronics factory workers in Italy, Dr. Maurizio Trevisan found that blood cholesterol and blood pressure levels rose with age among the 278 men with “male-pattern baldness.” He defined that as a receding hairline and a bald spot on the crown of the head.

The small but significant increases weren’t found among the 321 men with full heads of hair or the 273 with receding hairlines but not a balding crown, said Trevisan, an epidemiologist at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Trevisan and colleagues at the University of Naples plan research on whether elevated cholesterol and blood pressure levels actually make bald men more prone to heart attack and stroke.

If elevated blood pressure and cholesterol also are found in other populations, Trevisan’s study would be considered “a breakthrough observation,” said Dr. Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, chairwoman of community and family medicine at the University of California, San Diego.

Barrett-Connor co-authored the study of multiple pregnancies.

In her study of 1,275 women in Rancho Bernardo, near San Diego, she found that the women who had at least five pregnancies had a nearly 8 percent drop in levels of high-density lipoprotein, which is believed to protect against heart disease. There was no drop in the so-called “good” cholesterol among women with fewer children.

“Pregnancy may be another risk for heart disease, but it does not show up until five or more,” said Barrett-Connor’s colleague, Donna Kritz-Silverstein.

Like the bald men, the women with five or more children haven’t been followed long enough to know if they actually will develop higher heart disease rates.