The degree of premature hair graying as an independent risk marker for coronary artery disease: a predictor of biological age rather than chronological age

Abstract

The degree of premature hair graying as an independent risk marker for coronary artery disease: a predictor of biological age rather than chronological ageKoroner arter hastalığı için bağımsız bir risk öngörücüsü olarak saçın erken beyazlama düzeyi: Zamansal yaştan çok biyolojik yaşın öngörücüsü ABSTRACTObjective: Age is the most important and uncorrectable coronary risk factor at the moment. The concept of measuring aging biologically rather than only chronologically may be of importance in clinical practice. Hair graying is the most apparent sign of biological aging in humans, yet its mechanism is largely unknown. Today, it is known that cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs), especially in combination, cause premature atherosclerosis. In our opinion, premature hair graying or whitening may represent early atherosclerotic changes as a surrogate of host response to the CVRFs. In this study, we planned to investigate the relationship of hair graying with CVRFs and coronary atherosclerotic burden in order to determine whether it is an independent marker for coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods: The current study has a cross-sectional observational design. Two hundred and thirteen men who underwent coronary angiography with a suspicion of CAD were enrolled in the study. The patients were evaluated in terms of age, demographical properties and the CVRFs. Hair whitening score (HWS) was defined according to extent of gray/white hairs (1: pure black; 2: black>white; 3: black=white; 4: white>black; 5: pure white). Coronary atherosclerotic burden was assessed by the Gensini score. Analyses were performed in age-matched normal coronary arteries (NCA) and CAD groups. Linear and logistic regression analyses were used for the multivariate analyses of independent variables associated with hair greying. Results: The CVRFs were higher in CAD group. Hair whitening score (2.7±1.3 vs. 3.3±1.2, p=0.002), hair losing score (1.2±0.9 vs. 1.5±1.0, p=0.038) and xanthelasma rate (24% vs. 45%, p=0.013) were also significantly different between NCA and CAD groups. Age (p<0001), Gensini score (p<0.001) and coronary severity score (p=0.001) were higher in the categories of increased HWS. In multiple logistic regression analysis, only diabetes mellitus (OR: 3.240, 95% CI: [1.017-10.319], p=0.047), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, (OR: 1.014, 95%CI: [1.001-1.027], p=0.029) and HWS (OR: 1.513, 95% CI: [1.054-2.173], p=0.025) were independently related to presence of CAD. Age (p<0.001), family history of CAD (p=0.004), hyperlipidemia (p=0.02) and serum creatinine levels (p=0.019) were found as independent predictors of hair graying. Conclusion: In our study, we found that the degree of gray/white hairs is related to extent of CAD. Our findings also suggested that hair graying is a risk marker for CAD independent of age and other traditional risk factors. Biological age may be important in determining total risk of patients. During assessment of cumulative CVRF effects on human body, presence of biological aging signs may be useful in identi...

Premature graying of hair: An independent risk marker for coronary artery disease in smokers - A retrospective case control study

“…One of the earliest clinical signs which may possibly help in recognizing early onset of CAD in a young smoker is the presence of premature graying of hair. Although this sign was described as early as in 80's by Eisentein et al (5,6) and later few studies from our centre have also shown similar results (7,8), it has become a subject of intense research only very recently in the western world (9).…”

“…In addition, hair-graying intensity was also associated with age, hyperlipidemia and family history of CAD and creatinine levels (9).…”

“…Consumption of 1 gram of smokeless tobacco was taken as equivalent of one cigarette (12). A 25% or more graying of hair on scalp and/or beard on visual inspection was taken as a positive criterion for graying in the patient (9).…”

Premature Hair Graying: Profiling the Scalp Anatomical Patterns of Occurrence in Tanzania

“…Loss of self-esteem and worries over a possibility of worse underlying metabolic conditions such as diabetes cholesterolemia, coronary artery disease and osteopenia affected a huge number of the participants. Several studies have reported results that indicate a putative association between PHG and other hidden ill-health conditions [1,11,18,19] whereas other findings have disputed this view [9,17]. This equivocal hypothesis of PHG as ill-health indicator calls for the need of more studies in order to devise possible preventative approaches if a positive association is firmly established.…”

“…Other studies reports different patterns of onset with men's first onset involving the temporal and occipital regions while women's initial onset involving the frontal region. In the quest to describe the occurrence of PHG, Jo and co-workers [10] proposed a numerical grading of five grades I to V at a 20% interval scale referring to 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100% of grayness while other studies have proposed a much more nominal grading of 1-5 representing pure black, predominantly black, equal black and white, predominantly white and pure white respectively [11]. Globally, PHG is on the rise and it has been shown to affect up to over 50% of the young people [8,10].…”