Dr. Weeks’ Comment: Males snore more and lose more hair and die earlier than women… is there a connection? Yes – read on.
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Male-Pattern Baldness and BPH:
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From Johns Hopkins Medical Center
According to Spanish researchers, screenings for urinary symptoms in men with androgenetic alopecia (AGA, more commonly known as male-pattern baldness) could help with earlier identification of those who could benefit from treatment to prevent benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). Their rationale: Men with male-pattern baldness have higher than normal levels of 5-alpha-reductase, the chemical that converts the male hormone testosterone into dihydrotestosterone, the active form of male hormone within the prostate.
Male-pattern baldness, which accounts for almost all hair loss in men, results from a genetic malfunction that causes hair follicles to become more susceptible and shrink in the presence of dihydrotestosterone. Over time, the affected hair follicles stop producing hair. The chemical 5-alpha-reductase also plays a key role in the development of BPH. When testosterone is converted to the more potent dihydrotestosterone by 5-alpha-reductase, it can cause the prostate to enlarge, eventually leading to BPH and LUTS.
Prostatic enlargement that causes lower urinary complaints is often treated with finasteride (Proscar), a 5-mg dose taken daily which blocks 5-alpha-reductase and very slowly starts to shrink the prostate. Men with complaints of male pattern baldness are also treated with finasteride (Propecia), but in a 1-mg dose that effectively lowers dihydrotestosterone levels in the scalp by as much as 60% when taken daily, helping to stop hair loss in more than 85% of the men who use the drug.
With the link between male pattern baldness and BPH noted, the Spanish researchers wanted to know if the balding men also had signs of BPH, even though they may not have noticed symptoms. So they enrolled 30 men with early-onset male pattern baldness and compared several variables with a control group of men who had full heads of hair.
What they found through ultrasound examinations was that the balding men had prostates that were 34% larger than those of the men with full heads of hair; that their urine flow was 32% less; their prostate symptom scores significantly higher, and PSA scores also higher. All of these factors led the researchers to conclude that the balding men had early-stage BPH — and they didn’t know it.
This study suggests that patients with male-pattern baldness should talk with their doctors about any urinary symptoms they may be experiencing so they can take preventive measures.
WEEKS CLINIC EDITOR:
As for snoring (not mentioned above): it is not a funny symptom. It is a killer. If you snore, you are not breathing adequately breathing and you are starving your brain for oxygen and feeding cancers which crave low oxygen levels.