If you’re a balding man, you may feel that’s bad enough. But if your disappearing strands are on top of your head, rather than in the frontal area, you may have an increased risk of coronary heart disease, according to findings published in the online journal BMJ Open and reported by Science Daily.

For the study, researchers scoured two science databases for studies about male pattern baldness and coronary disease. Scientists found 850 possible studies published between 1950 and 2012. Only six studies met research guidelines and those were published between 1993 and 2008. These six studies included a little less than 40,000 men. And three of the six studies tracked the health of balding men for at least 11 years.

The result? Scientists found that men who had lost almost all their hair were 32 percent more likely to develop coronary artery disease than those who kept all their hair. When researchers focused on men younger than 55, they noted that 44 percent of balding or totally bald men were more likely to develop coronary artery disease.

In addition, when scientists evaluated the three studies that compared the heart health of bald or balding men with those who retained all their strands, they found that balding men were 70 percent more likely to develop heart disease. What’s more, researchers found that men in younger age groups were 84 percent more likely to have heart disease too.

The three studies also showed that the risk of bald or balding men developing coronary heart disease rested on how severe their hair loss was if it occurred on the top of their heads. Findings showed that the more hair loss on top of their heads that bald or balding men had this pushed their risk of coronary heart disease increasingly higher.

Researchers said the reasons for the association between the severity and location of hair loss and heart disease varied. But scientists suggested that the men’s baldness might reflect insulin resistance; chronic inflammation; or increased sensitivity to the male hormone testosterone. (All these variables are either directly or indirectly linked to cardiovascular disease.)

Scientists concluded that this is why doctors should carefully watch men with balding on top of their heads—especially younger ones—for the possibility of heart disease.

But if men aren’t bald, their hair, and everyone else’s, may also show the level of stress they have. Click here to read more.