Thanks to member andyg for this news item:
DAILY SHAVE `HELPS CUTS RISK OF STROKE’
By John Bingham, PA News
Men who do not need to shave every day are 70% more likely to suffer a stroke
than those who do, a 20-year study showed today.
The research carried out by Bristol University’s department of social medicine
and published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, examined facial hair
growth and coronary heart disease and strokes.
A sample of 2,438 men from Caerphilly, south Wales, were asked how often they
needed to shave.
Their susceptibility to heart disease and strokes was then monitored over a
20-year period.
While the study found that those who did not shave every day were also more
likely to smoke, less likely to be married and more likely to do manual work,
even after adjusting for these factors, they were 70% more likely to suffer
strokes and 30% more likely to die from any cause.
Professor Shah Ebrahim, who led the research, said: “The increased risk of
stroke did not disappear when we adjusted for possible other underlying
factors.”
He added: "The association between infrequent shaving and death is probably
due to underlying smoking and social factors, but a small hormonal effect may
also exist.
“However, the relation with stroke events remains unexplained by smoking or
social factors.”
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051405 FEB 03