Bald Men With Excessive S.e.x Hormones Could Be More Vulnerable To COVID-19

At the end of May, a team consisting of Spanish dermatologists and researchers published a study about COVID-19. The study studied samples of 122 male patients who were treated at hospitals in Madrid. Out of them, 79% were bald.

Four weeks later, in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, another paper pointed out that among COVID-19 hospital admission, bald men were overrepresented.

Both studies weren’t huge. And neither of them confirmed the relation between hair loss in males and susceptibility to COVID-19. But together, they caused a shockwave of articles globally proclaiming the fear that bald men might be vulnerable to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Professor of Genetics and Vice Chancellor’s Fellow, Jenny Graves from La Trobe University in Melbourne said that there might be a plausible biological explanation for the link between baldness and COVID-19. And it has something to do with sex hormones.

Dr. Graves says that typically, hair loss has a relation to androgens, a family of sex hormones. Androgens are known as “male hormones” as they regulate male characteristics’ development like the growth of the prostate, how sexual organs develop, and, well, balding.

High levels of androgen can lead to hair loss. Studies point out that these hormones might have an important role in the entry of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 as well.

This leads to the theory that a person with higher male hormones might be more vulnerable to COVID-19. And this could also answer the question of why men are more easily infected with the virus than women.

However, to firm this theory up, researchers will need to carry out more research. If it is proved, Dr. Graves says that researchers could look into anti-androgens or androgen deprivation therapy to prevent and treat the disease.

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