Qld scientists reveal why bald men are more prone to deadly skin cancer

QUEENSLAND scientists have confirmed the link between male-pattern balding and deadly skin cancers — and it’s not testosterone.

QUEENSLAND scientists have confirmed the link between male-pattern baldness and deadly skin cancers.

QIMR Berghofer researchers led a comprehensive investigation to understand if the link was driven by testosterone or sun exposure and the findings proved to be the more obvious reason — hairless men had less protection from the sun.

“Testosterone levels are a major driver of male pattern baldness and some studies suggest they may also contribute to this increased skin cancer risk in people with hair loss,” lead researcher Dr Jue-Sheng Ong said.

“The more obvious explanation would be that people with hair loss receive greater sun exposure to their head and neck. We sought to find clear answers and unsurprisingly, it appears the more commonsense explanation is the correct one. Balding men are more susceptible to sun damage and skin cancer because they have less hair protection,” the researcher said.

Researchers have found a link between baldness and skin cancer.

While the explanation may seem self-evident, the research team needed to run extensive genetic analyses to provide evidence-based insight into the relationship between baldness and skin cancer.

“It’s important that we investigate and prove causality to inform the best evidence-based prevention for deadly skin cancers — even if the answers seem obvious,” said senior researcher Associate Professor Matthew Law.

“Health programs and interventions cannot be guided by assumptions. They need to be backed by evidence if they’re to work,” Prof Law said.

The researchers analysed genetic data from more than 29,000 cases of melanoma and keratinocyte cancer, available from the landmark QSkin Study and Melanoma Institute Australia.

They also incorporated large-scale genetic findings on testosterone and hair loss, to establish whether genes that predispose people to high testosterone or balding affect skin cancer risk.

The analysis confirmed a strong link between balding and skin cancers, and found this was predominantly due to greater sun exposure. However, genes linked to hair loss and skin colour also appear to play a role.

“We found no evidence that testosterone levels play any meaningful role in the relationship between balding and skin cancer,” said Dr Ong.

The findings have been published in the journal Nature Communications.

Melanoma Institute Australia Co-Medical Directors, Professor Richard Scolyer and Professor Georgina Long said research into the genetic drivers of skin cancer was critical.

“Australia has the highest melanoma rates in the world, with one person diagnosed every 30 minutes, so greater understanding of which groups in the population are at increased risk helps us target them with preventive and early detection strategies,” Professor Long said.