A U.S. team of researchers first suspected the link once they noticed that men with a standard sort of hormone-sensitive hair loss, referred to as androgenetic alopecia, were also more susceptible to being hospitalized with COVID-19.
“Among hospitalized men with COVID-19, 79% presented with androgenetic alopecia compared to 31%-53% that might be expected during a similarly aged match population,” said researchers led by Dr. Andy Goren, a chief medic at Applied Biology Inc. in Irvine, Calif.
They presented their findings on May 6 at the virtual spring meeting of the ECU Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV).
Researchers have found that Androgenic Alopecia is caused by the activity of the androgen receptor gene. This is often why some men can cause hair loss. An enzyme, called TMPRSS2, which is vital in Covid infection, is additionally sensitive to androgen and could be suffering from the androgen receptor gene.
In a study, the Irvine group genetically examined 65 men who are infected with the coronavirus. They found that men with some certain structural differences in the AR gene were more likely to develop severe COVID-19.
The medic Goren said the AR gene aberration “could be used as a biomarker to assist identify male COVID-19 patients most in danger for ICU admissions.”
He also believes that the identification of a biomarker connected with the androgen receptor is a piece of important evidence highlighting the crucial role of androgens, male hormones, in COVID-19 disease severity.
Certain other doctors have also found similar results independently. Dr. Teresa Murray Amato is chair of medicine at Long Island Jewish Forest Hills in NY City and has seen many severe cases of COVID-19.4.
She said it “did show a big correlation between a better number of androgen receptors and a better incidence of ICU admissions for patients infected with COVID-19.” Amato added, “While the study is done on a small scale and therefore the exact association isn’t completely understood, it’s going to show a minimum of one answer to why men were more likely to be admitted to ICU and have overall higher morality with COVID-19 infections.”
The doctor feels that more research is required during this aspect to work out whether androgen receptors blocking medication are often administered to scale back the severity of the infection in males.
Since the findings were presented within the medical meeting they ought to be considered preliminary until they’re published during a journal.
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