Conditions

Genetic Study Predicts Risks of Getting Bald

By Joie M Gahum | Update Date: Feb 16, 2017 07:10 AM EST

A new formula is now available to predict a man's risk of getting bald. The possibility of using a simple blood test to be able to forecast the possibilities and when a man will start losing his hair is also close to becoming possible.

Researchers from the University of Edinburg have studied the genetics of hair loss and have found 280 different genes that are involved in the possibility of a man losing his hair. Hair loss was initially thought as a simple process that men experience, however, reports from NBC News contradicts so. According to a British team of experts working a research on hair loss, it is actually a very complicated genetically.

The report was published at the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Genetics. It reveals that a large genome-wide association looking in the patterns of make baldness identified 287 genetic signals that were linked to balding. This results will help determine those people that have higher risks of losing their hair. This can also help in developing genetic experiments that can intervene with the hair loss.

The study was conducted to more than 52,000 middle-aged men. They were all part of the huge British genetic experiment called the BioBank. Results showed that 80 percent of these men showed patterns of hair loss when they hit the age of 80 years. Of the men included in the study, 16,700 showed no hair loss, 12,000 slight lost hair, 14,000 showed moderate hair loss while 9,800 displayed severe hair loss.

The team of researchers also managed to create a formula that will help them loosely predict the chances of a person going bald, The Sun UK reports. This will be based on the presence or absence of genetic markers present in men. More accurate predictions are still undergoing experimentation to be able to help identify sub-groups of the population that have a higher risk of losing their hair.

Scientists are also continuously performing experiments to be able to develop a drug to treat baldness and other related conditions.

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