NYU Langone researchers report first genetic link between GLP-1 activity and male hair loss

A team at NYU Langone Health reports that men whose genes point to more GLP-1 receptor activity carry a 7 percent higher risk of androgenetic alopecia, the inherited scalp hair loss commonly called male pattern baldness. The paper appeared online September 3 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology ^[1][2].

What the researchers measured

The scientists did not recruit patients or follow them over time. They worked with GLP1R, the gene that governs how much GLP-1 receptor protein the body produces, and treated natural differences in it as a measure of GLP-1 activity ^[1][2]. They then looked for signals shared with men who have patterned hair loss.

Two public datasets supplied the raw material. One, eQTLGen, holds 31,684 people described as mostly White men and women. The other, from the Complex Traits Genetics group, covers 205,327 people described as mostly White men. Together they take in more than 200,000 individuals ^[1][2].

The 7 percent figure survived three separate adjustments: for hypertension, which researchers think limits blood flow to the scalp and damages follicles; for insulin resistance, a precursor to type 2 diabetes; and for lowered testosterone ^[1][2].

Drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy, both semaglutide, and Zepbound, which is tirzepatide, form the backdrop for the work, but nobody in the analysis was taking them ^[1][2].

"Our study provides the first genetic link between GLP-1 use and an increased risk of male- pattern hair loss from androgenetic alopecia, an association long suspected but until now not shown scientifically," said Lynn Petukhova, PhD, the senior investigator and an assistant professor in dermatology and population health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine ^[1][2].

How GLP-1 activity might weaken follicles is unknown. Petukhova said experiments are needed to explain the biology ^[1][2]. She also raised ideas that remain speculative: screening men, and possibly women, for hair loss risk before a GLP-1 prescription, and pairing a GLP-1 drug with a preventive such as minoxidil ^[1][2].

Why it matters for patients

Thinning hair is a side effect many people on these medicines say they have noticed, and the usual explanation has centered on rapid weight loss. Growth often resumes a few months after weight levels off ^[1][2]. The new work points to a second possibility rooted in genetics, but it cannot predict what will happen to any one person's hair.

Nothing about prescribing has changed. There is no test to gauge hair loss risk, no update to drug labels, and no comparison here between hair loss rates in users and non-users ^[1][2].

The evidence base skews heavily White, and hair loss in women has been studied far less than in men, which is why the analysis was limited to men ^[1][2]. Petukhova plans to check whether women show the same pattern ^[1][2].

For scale: androgenetic alopecia is estimated to affect half of White American men over 50 and close to the same share of White American women over 50, mostly after menopause ^[1][2]. Surveys suggest 12 percent of Americans have taken GLP-1 drugs solely to lose weight, including one in five women ages 50 to 64, and prescriptions have more than tripled since Ozempic was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2020 ^[1][2].

What happens next

Two lines of work are planned: laboratory research into how GLP-1 activity affects the follicle, and extending the genetic analysis to women. Neither has a disclosed timetable, and no screening tool or clinical guidance has been announced ^[1][2].

Funding came from National Institutes of Health grants R01AR080796 and K01AR075111 ^[1][2]. Two NYU Langone co-investigators, Jerry Shapiro, MD, and Kristen Lo Sicco, MD, have previously served as study investigators for hair loss drugs and devices made by Pfizer and Regen Labs, and Lo Sicco is a paid consultant for Pfizer, Lilly, Ro, Priovant, Veradermics and Aquis. NYU Langone says those relationships are managed under its policies ^[1][2].