Male balding is a major risk factor for severe Covid-19 | Hacker News Reader

Male balding is a major risk factor for severe Covid-19

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

31 pointsbelltaco29 comments

Both balding and infection severity (e.g. flu) are related to testosterone levels. That's probably the common causal factor here.

I'm surprised we don't see them speculate about that connection in the discussion.

is the infection severity angle due to testosterone's immunosuppressive effects as a steroid? are women less likely to develop severe covid-19 than men?

I'm hoping I've gotten some extra protection by ditching testosterone for estrogen, but there's almost no data on infections in trans people on HRT.

> is the infection severity angle due to testosterone's immunosuppressive effects as a steroid?

Yes, most likely[1].

> are women less likely to develop severe covid-19 than men?

Yes[2]. This was an early observation and has been observed consistently since Covid-19 was discovered.

> I'm hoping I've gotten some extra protection by ditching testosterone for estrogen

That's an interesting question. I'm a layperson, but I would assume the answer is yes, since testosterone levels seems to be the root cause of the sex differences in immune response. I'm sure the doctor who helped/helps you transition would know.

It's possible that vitamin D (another hormone and a secosteroid) is an even more important factor than testosterone, in case you're looking for other ways to safely reduce your risk of severe Covid.

1. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/man-flu-really-thing-201...

2. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19741-6

Have no idea why this comment was down voted. Upvoted to compensate

"There are a lot of myths out there about balding men. One of them is that men with MPB are more virile and have higher levels of testosterone. This isn’t necessarily the case. Men with MPB may actually have lower circulating levels of testosterone but higher levels of the enzyme that converts testosterone to DHT. Alternately, you may simply have genes that give you hair follicles that are highly sensitive to testosterone or DHT." [1]

[1]: https://www.healthline.com/health/hair-loss-and-testosterone

Last time i checked you need a specific gene for your testosterone and dihydro-testosterone to cause baldness. So a full-head could have higher T levels and more hair. Balding MTF transgenders do often regain significant ground once they decrease T levels.

I’d always heard that male balding protects against STDs.

Funny. I always heard the more hair you lose, the more head you get.

Bald men are considered less attractive, and are less likely to be chosen by women for (unprotected) sex. Could that be a factor?

I think that was the joke.

That's interesting, do you have any articles or sources?

It was a study conducted on Tinder

GQ says otherwise https://www.gq.com.au/grooming/hair/studies-say-bald-men-are...

Nevertheless in this case it’s clearly a sign of being evolutionarily unfit.

Your comment makes no sense.

There was also one where balding people got far fewer matches, so makes sense.

How does looking at the ratio of positive/negative Covid-19 test results after being admitted to hospital for Covid-19 symptoms bear any relation to balding being a risk factor?

So this means Elon Musk is at high risk :) ?

Source - https://www.mcanhealth.com/elon-musk-hair-transplant-analysi...

We can dream, can’t we?

Your dream is for Elon Musk to be at high risk of severe Covid-19?

It's not just related to age?

They claim to have controlled for age.

I wonder if balding could be indicative of “biological” age better than “calendar” age?

Ah fuck.

https://xkcd.com/925/ comes to mind

From what I gather in the abstract, this seems like baldness as a result of covid, rather than contributing to the risk of contracting covid, is the focus of the study, right?

Not sure how you read it like that. It starts

> Recent observations by Wambier et al suggest that men with pattern baldness are at high risk for severe symptomatic COVID-19 infection

That's not how I read it. I read it as baldness increases your risk of contracting COVID.

Makes sense. Stress [1], lack of sleep [2], and poor fitness correlate with hair loss. (These aren't the only contributors, of course.)

[1] https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-manageme...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_hair_loss

[1] is not about male pattern baldness, it's about telogen effluvium (an acute physiological stress reaction), alopecia areata (autoimmune) and trichotillomania (pulling your hair out, psychological.) [2] does not mention lack of sleep at all, and instead gives a detailed mechanistic pathway from androgens to keratins.

your conclusion is not supported by your sources.

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