There’s been a lot of conflicting coverage of the topic of hair loss in men. Depending on the source a bald guy talks to, he can be led to believe he’s either the sexiest man on earth (as long as he’s gone full bald) or the village pariah.

A new study finds a close relationship between early hair loss in men and short stature. (Photo: Getty Images)

There are also a number of studies suggesting that male baldness may be linked to health issues. Research shows that hair loss has measurable connections with heart disease and an association (though not a direct cause-and-effect relationship) with prostate cancer.

A new study not only confirmed these previous health-related findings but also found that men who are short appear to have an increased risk of premature hair loss. Just add it to the list of reasons why bald guys can’t catch a break.

The study, conducted in Germany using subjects from seven countries, looked at the genetic makeup of thousands of men who suffer from premature hair loss — over 11,000 balding men — along with 12,000 men without hair loss as a control source. The researchers’ findings isolated dozens of what geneticists are calling alterations in the human genome that increase the risk of premature hair loss. “Some of these alterations were also found in connection with other characteristics and illnesses, such as reduced body size, earlier occurrence of puberty, and various cancers,” explained one of the study’s co-authors, Stefanie Heilmann-Heimbach, PhD, in a press release.

Still, researchers in this field emphasize that balding men shouldn’t panic. “Men with premature hair loss do not need to be concerned,“ says the study’s co-author, Markus Nöthen of the University of Bonn in Germany. ”The risks of illness are only increased slightly.”

If you happen to be one of the guys who is already displaying a relationship between your short height and baldness, well, you likely already know about it. And if that’s indeed the case — for the sake of your mental health — we encourage you to keep reading those bald-is-sexy stories.

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