BACKGROUND: Androgenetic alopecia is the most common type of hair loss in men, but little is known about the etiology of androgenetic alopecia in elderly men and its impact on perceived age. Here we used a population-based twin study of men aged 70+ to assess the magnitude of the genetic component affecting hair loss and to examine the association between baldness and perceived age. METHODS: In the fourth wave of The Longitudinal Study of Aging Danish Twins we obtained digital photos of the face and photos of the vertex area of 739 elderly male twins, including 148 intact twin pairs. The degree of baldness and perceived age were assessed in each twin by five and nine nurses, respectively. The heritability of balding was estimated using structural-equation analysis, and it was tested whether baldness was associated with estimations of age. RESULTS: The intrapair correlation of degree of balding was consistently higher for monozygotic than for dizygotic twin pairs regardless of the baldness categorization used, and structural-equation analysis revealed a heritability of 79% (95% confidence interval, 0.40--0.85) for the mean baldness index. The remaining variation could be attributed to non-shared environmental effects. There was only a very weak and statistically nonsignificant association between baldness and overestimation of age. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of the variation in baldness in elderly men can be explained by genetic factors, and hair quantity has little impact on perceived age in elderly men.
BACKGROUND: Androgenetic alopecia is the most common type of hair loss in men, but little is known about the etiology of androgenetic alopecia in elderly men and its impact on perceived age. Here we used a population-based twin study of men aged 70+ to assess the magnitude of the genetic component affecting hair loss and to examine the association between baldness and perceived age. METHODS: In the fourth wave of The Longitudinal Study of Aging Danish Twins we obtained digital photos of the face and photos of the vertex area of 739 elderly male twins, including 148 intact twin pairs. The degree of baldness and perceived age were assessed in each twin by five and nine nurses, respectively. The heritability of balding was estimated using structural-equation analysis, and it was tested whether baldness was associated with estimations of age. RESULTS: The intrapair correlation of degree of balding was consistently higher for monozygotic than for dizygotic twin pairs regardless of the baldness categorization used, and structural-equation analysis revealed a heritability of 79% (95% confidence interval, 0.40--0.85) for the mean baldness index. The remaining variation could be attributed to non-shared environmental effects. There was only a very weak and statistically nonsignificant association between baldness and overestimation of age. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of the variation in baldness in elderly men can be explained by genetic factors, and hair quantity has little impact on perceived age in elderly men.
Authors: Fan Liu; Merel A Hamer; Stefanie Heilmann; Christine Herold; Susanne Moebus; Albert Hofman; André G Uitterlinden; Markus M Nöthen; Cornelia M van Duijn; Tamar Ec Nijsten; Manfred Kayser Journal: Eur J Hum Genet Date: 2015-10-28 Impact factor: 4.246
Authors: Axel M Hillmer; Antonia Flaquer; Sandra Hanneken; Sibylle Eigelshoven; Anne-Katrin Kortüm; Felix F Brockschmidt; Astrid Golla; Christine Metzen; Holger Thiele; Susanne Kolberg; Roman Reinartz; Regina C Betz; Thomas Ruzicka; Hans Christian Hennies; Roland Kruse; Markus M Nöthen Journal: Am J Hum Genet Date: 2008-02-21 Impact factor: 11.025
Authors: Stefanie Heilmann-Heimbach; Christine Herold; Lara M Hochfeld; Axel M Hillmer; Dale R Nyholt; Julian Hecker; Asif Javed; Elaine G Y Chew; Sonali Pechlivanis; Dmitriy Drichel; Xiu Ting Heng; Ricardo C-H Del Rosario; Heide L Fier; Ralf Paus; Rico Rueedi; Tessel E Galesloot; Susanne Moebus; Thomas Anhalt; Shyam Prabhakar; Rui Li; Stavroula Kanoni; George Papanikolaou; Zoltán Kutalik; Panos Deloukas; Michael P Philpott; Gérard Waeber; Tim D Spector; Peter Vollenweider; Lambertus A L M Kiemeney; George Dedoussis; J Brent Richards; Michael Nothnagel; Nicholas G Martin; Tim Becker; David A Hinds; Markus M Nöthen Journal: Nat Commun Date: 2017-03-08 Impact factor: 14.919
Authors: David A Gunn; Helle Rexbye; Christopher E M Griffiths; Peter G Murray; Amelia Fereday; Sharon D Catt; Cyrena C Tomlin; Barbara H Strongitharm; Dave I Perrett; Michael Catt; Andrew E Mayes; Andrew G Messenger; Martin R Green; Frans van der Ouderaa; James W Vaupel; Kaare Christensen Journal: PLoS One Date: 2009-12-01 Impact factor: 3.240
Authors: Saskia P Hagenaars; W David Hill; Sarah E Harris; Stuart J Ritchie; Gail Davies; David C Liewald; Catharine R Gale; David J Porteous; Ian J Deary; Riccardo E Marioni Journal: PLoS Genet Date: 2017-02-14 Impact factor: 5.917