Association between androgenetic alopecia and metabolic syndrome: a meta-analysis

Zhejiang Da Xue Xue Bao Yi Xue Ban. 2014 Sep 25;43(5):597-601.
[Association between androgenetic alopecia and metabolic syndrome: a meta-analysis].
[Article in Chinese]
Wu DX1, Wu LF2, Yang ZX3.

OBJECTIVE:
To investigate the association between androgenetic alopecia (AGA) and metabolic syndrome (MS). METHODS：Literature on association between AGA and MS up to December 26, 2013 was searched from PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Scopus, Cochrance library, SinoMed, CNKI, Wanfang and VIP databases, and the studies met the eligibility criteria were selected. Meta-analysis was performed by using StataSE 12.0 software to determine the association between AGA and MS. RESULTS：Four case-control studies and 2 cross-sectional studies met the eligibility criteria, including 950 AGA subjects and 3056 control subjects were entered the analysis. Meta-analysis showed that AGA was significantly correlated with MS（OR=2.70, 95%CI: 1.67-4.37, P<0.01）. Stratification analysis showed that AGA was significantly correlated with MS in male（OR=2.30, 95%CI: 1.33-3.98, P<0.01） and female subjects（OR=4.61, 95%CI: 1.26-16.94, P<0.05）; and AGA was significantly correlated with MS in European（OR=5.29, 95%CI: 2.86-9.80, P<0.01）and Asian subjects（OR=1.92, 95%CI: 1.18-3.10, P<0.01）. CONCLUSION：Based on the available data, AGA may be a risk factor for MS, indicating that AGA patients would be a targeting population for screening of metabolic syndrome.