A recent study has indicated that hair loss is a clear indicator that prostate cancer is more likely to develop.
The study was published in the prestigious cancer journal entitled the Annals of Oncology. The study in the paper was from France and concerned itself with a group of 388 men who were receiving therapy for cancer of the prostate, there was a corresponding control group of healthy men. It was found that the prostate group were 2 times as likely to have baldness start to occur when they were only 20. This is an important distinction as if the baldness started at 30 or 40 then there was no increased risk of developing prostate cancer. Previous to this study the evidence for this link has not been conclusive however by separating out the different age groups it may be that this study has identified the reason behind this.
Being able to separate out a group of higher risk individuals for prostate cancer would be welcome as this could make it feasible to do pre screening and potentially save lives, much as pre screening for breast cancer works
It is interesting to note that it has been shown that taking Finasteride reduces the incidence of prostate cancer, and given that Finasteride is used as a method to combat hair loss it suggests that there is a link.
From September 2004 Prof Phiippe Giraud et al gave the men in the study questionnaires, which asked about their personal history of prostate cancer and also to show how they were balding in the passed, via pictures. Also doctors of the men were asked to also give the patients medical history. The study lasted for two years and four months. From this it should be clear that the results could be clouded by the format of the questions and by the memory of the patients not being so clear.
While this study provided an interesting incite into the potential link between prostate cancer and hair loss it should be noted that the study group was not that large and the method by which the results where collected could have been prone to biases. Coupled with the inconclusive previous results of other studies it would suggest that more research needs to be done in this area before any firm conclusions can be arrived at. [Reference]