Emerging evidence claims that men with baldness may be more likely to develop severe "Covid-19" symptoms, in a controversial new study that needs extensive research. Some researchers say that baldness should be considered a risk factor called "Gabrin sign", after the first American doctor who died of "Covid-19" in the United States, Dr. Frank Jabrin, who was bald.
Speaking with the Telegraph, the lead author of the study behind this link, Professor Carlos Wamper, of Brown University in America, said: "We really believe that baldness is an ideal sign of risk."
Data since the outbreak of the disease began in January in Wuhan, China, that men are more likely to die after infection with the Coronavirus. In the United Kingdom, a report from this week's Public Health in England found that working-age males are more likely to die twice as often as females after being diagnosed with "Covid-19".
Until recently, scientists were puzzled as to why this was, citing factors such as lifestyle, smoking, and gender differences in the immune system. But they increasingly believe that this may be because androgen - male sex hormones like testosterone - may play a role not only in hair loss, but also in enhancing the ability of the Corona virus to attack cells.
This increases the possibility of using inhibitors of these hormones, such as those used for baldness as well as diseases such as prostate cancer, to slow the virus, giving patients time to fight it.
Professor Weimper said: "We believe that androgens or male hormones are definitely the gateway to the virus entering our cells."
In addition to the experiment being discussed with baldness medication in the United States, a separate trial was launched by Matthew Rettig, an oncologist at the University of California at Los Angeles, which included 200 veterans in Los Angeles, Seattle and New York, using prostate cancer medications.
The experiments follow two small studies in Spain, led by Professor Amper, and it turns out that a disproportionately large number of men with male pattern baldness were admitted to hospital because of "Covid-19".
In one study, 79% of men with "Covid-19" in 3 hospitals in Madrid had baldness. A study of 122 patients, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, follows a previous work involving 41 patients in Spanish hospitals, where it was found that 71% of them suffer from baldness. A similar association was discovered in a study of smaller numbers of women suffering from androgen-related hair loss.
Other scientists said more research was needed, but they were enthusiastic about the possible link.
"Everyone is chasing the bond between androgens and the results of Covid-19," Howard Soleil, executive vice president of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, told Science.