Bald men at higher risk of severe case of Covid-19, research finds

[LiberalArkie]

Bald men may be at higher risk of suffering from severe Covid-19 symptoms, emerging evidence suggests.

The link is so strong that some researchers are suggesting baldness should be considered a risk factor called the "Gabrin sign", after the first US physician to die of Covid-19 in the United States, Dr Frank Gabrin, who was bald.

The lead author of the key study behind the association, Professor Carlos Wambier of Brown University, told The Telegraph: "We really think that baldness is a perfect predictor of severity."

Data since the beginning of the outbreak in Wuhan, China, in January has shown that men are more likely to die after getting coronavirus. In the UK, a report this week from Public Health England found that working-age males were twice as likely as females to die after being diagnosed with Covid-19.

Until recently, scientists have been at a loss at why this might be, pointing to factors such as lifestyle, smoking, and immune system differences between the sexes. But increasingly they believe it could be because androgens - male sex hormones like testosterone - may play a part not only in hair loss, but also in boosting the ability of coronavirus to attack cells.

Snip

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/bald-men-higher-risk-severe-case-covid-19-research-finds/

[idziak4ever1234]

1. Let's give McConnell a buzz cut.

[Moostache]

2. Goddamn it...

I don't need any more freaking co-morbidity disadvantages!!!

I am already depressed and losing my grip on reality, this virus can seriously bite my ass already!

[renate]

3. I wonder why young men don't get it worst of all, then

Whether it's true or not, the evidence for the relationship is interesting. I'm impressed by the researchers who thought to look for it. It sounds so nuts on the face of it.

[LiberalArkie]

4. Maybe the male-pattern baldness gene hasn't kicked in yet

[bluedigger]

5. Godamnit, stop already.

A blood type, heart disease, 60 years old, and now THIS? How much weed do you think I can puff to stave this off? I'm not a freakin' chimney!

[LiberalArkie]

7. I am 72, male pattern, just had carotid artery surgery at the peak of the pandemic, and a bypass

not a sniffle yet. I try to stay in my bunker in the national forest.

[Midnight Writer]

6. Uh oh.

[tinrobot]

8. I know a bald guy with the worst combover.

He's also kind of obese. I wonder what would happen if he got it?

[Ms. Toad]

9. I wonder how much impact this will have on the trans male population -

since they (by and large) take testosterone.

[LiberalArkie]

10. It might not even be the testosterone but maybe the gene for the male pattern baldness that

makes a man more prone and a low level of testosterone that occurs when a man is older. Thus letting the young skate on it. Genetics is so hairy.

If that being so and Covid indeed stays around. What happens to those with the male pattern baldness when they get older and their t level starts dropping?

[Ms. Toad]

11. The suspicion is that the testosterone has a causal connection to both.

But increasingly they believe it could be because androgens - male sex hormones like testosterone - may play a part not only in hair loss, but also in boosting the ability of coronavirus to attack cells.