Bald men may be at higher risk of suffering from severe COVID-19 symptoms, The Daily Telegraph reports 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 physician to die of COVID-19 in the US, Dr Frank Gabrin, who was bald.
The lead author of the key study behind the association, Professor Carlos Wambier of Brown University is quoted in the report as saying: "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 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.
This raises the possibility that treatments suppressing these hormones, such as those used for baldness as well as diseases like prostate cancer, could be used to slow the virus down, giving patients time to fight it off.
"We think androgens or male hormones are definitely the gateway for the virus to enter our cells," said ambier.
As well as the trial being discussed using baldness drugs in the US, a separate trial has been launched by Matthew Rettig, an oncologist at University of California – Los Angeles, in 200 veterans in Los Angeles, Seattle and New York, using prostate cancer drugs.
The trials follow two small studies in Spain led to Wambier, which found that a disproportionately high number of men with male pattern baldness were admitted to hospital with COVID-19.
In one study, 79% of the men suffering with COVID-19 in three Madrid hospitals were bald. The study of 122 patients followed an earlier piece of work among 41 patients in Spanish hospitals, which found 7% were bald. The background rate of baldness in white men of a similar age to the patients studied is between 31%-53%. A similar correlation was found in the study among the smaller numbers of women with hair loss linked to androgens. Other scientists said that more work needed to be done, but were excited by the potential link.
"Everybody is chasing a link between androgens …and the outcome of COVID-19,” Howard Soule, executive vice president at the Prostate Cancer Foundation is quoted in the report as saying.
Karen Stalbow, head of policy at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “There have been several recent pieces of research which indicate there may be a link between male hormones and increased risk of COVID-19. This has led some researchers to investigate whether hormone therapies commonly used to treat prostate cancer, such as enzalutamide, could reduce this risk.
“However, most of the research so far has been in the lab, and there is conflicting evidence over whether the hormone therapies have the same impact in the lungs as they would in prostate cells. There are now several clinical studies starting which hope to address these issues, but much more evidence is needed before we can know whether these hormone therapies would be an effective treatment for COVID-19.”
Abstract
Not available
Authors
Carlos Gustavo Wambier, Sergio Vaño-Galván, John McCoy, Alba Gomez-Zubiaur, Sabina Herrera, Ángela Hermosa-Gelbard, Oscar M Moreno-Arrones, Natalia Jiménez-Gómez, Alvaro González-Cantero, Pablo Fonda Pascual, Gonzalo Segurado-Miravalles, Jerry Shapiro, Bibiana Pérez-García, Andy Goren
[link url="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/bald-men-higher-risk-severe-case-covid-19-research-finds/?WT.mc_id=e_DM1253046&WT.tsrc=email&etype=Edi_FAM_New_ES&utmsource=email&utm_medium=Edi_FAM_New_ES20200605&utm_campaign=DM1253046"]Full report in The Daily Telegraph[/link]
[link url="https://www.jaad.org/article/S0190-9622%2820%2930948-8/abstract"]Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology abstract[/link]