Connection Between Early Balding and the Risk of Parkinson’s Disease

The authors of a recently published article show that a specific genetic locus was identified on Chromosome 20, which is associated with Parkinson’s disease, that is also a susceptibility locus for early-onset genetic balding. The study was conducted in 12,806 individuals of European ancestry who had early-onset genetic balding. There was a high degree of confidence in the reported statistics.

The suggestion is that individuals with early onset genetic balding have a 6 fold increase in the risk for Parkinson’s Disease (7,664 cases of Parkinson’s Disease was studied). This data was published in Public Library of Science, and you can read it here.

With the advent of wide scale genetic testing, we are now finding relationships between the genes we carry and various diseases that run in family lines. I registered on 23andMe some time ago. When you register on this site, you send saliva samples along with the registration. From this, the company compares you with an expanding database of people and their genetic make-up. Risk of disease is sent to you and as new genetic testing is developed, you can see your ever-changing risks of various diseases. What this means is that, for example, you have a higher risk of heart disease than the average person, you can take steps early in your life to mitigate that risk. I would suggest that you may find it interesting to look at the 23andMe site.