Gray hair, baldness, and wrinkles in relation to myocardial infarction: the Copenhagen City Heart Study

Abstract

To investigate a possible relation between aging signs such as graying of the hair, baldness, and facial wrinkling and myocardial infarction (MI), we analyzed data from The Copenhagen City Heart Study. During the 12-year follow-up, 750 cases of first-time MI were observed. After statistical adjustment for possible confounders, we found a correlation between graying of the hair, facial wrinkling, and frontoparietal baldness and crown-top baldness and MI in men. For example, the relative risk was 1.4 (95% CI, 0.9 to 2.0) for men with moderately gray hair compared with men with no gray hair and 1.9 (1.2 to 2.8) for men with completely gray hair (p < 0.001). With regard to gray hair, a similar although weaker and not statistically significant trend was seen in women. We conclude that, in addition to established coronary risk factors, aging signs like graying of the hair, male baldness, and facial wrinkling indicate an additional risk of MI.