A study shows that men with low testosterone levels are more likely to get hospitalized, fall ill, or even die due to COVID 19.
The researchers measured testosterone levels at the time of admission, and several other points during hospitalization. As male patients became more severely ill, their testosterone levels continued to drop. In fact, low testosterone levels could effectively predict which patients would decline over the subsequent days.
A new study from Washington University School of Medicine is offering the most robust insights on the subject to date, looking at circulating testosterone levels in 142 COVID-19 patients and reporting low testosterone levels are strongly linked to worse disease outcomes in men.
The researchers measured testosterone levels at the time of admission, and several other points during hospitalization. As male patients became more severely ill, their testosterone levels continued to drop. In fact, low testosterone levels could effectively predict which patients would decline over the subsequent days.
“During the pandemic, there has been a prevailing notion that testosterone is bad,” says Abhinav Diwan, senior author of the new study. “But we found the opposite in men. If a man had low testosterone when he first came to the hospital, his risk of having severe COVID-19 – meaning his risk of requiring intensive care or dying – was much higher compared with men who had more circulating testosterone. And if testosterone levels dropped further during hospitalization, the risk increased.”
Around 60 women were included in the study and there was no association between female testosterone levels and COVID-19 severity.
A major limitation in the research so far is that these studies linking low testosterone and COVID-19 severity have all initially measured hormone levels at the point of hospital admission. So it is unclear whether these men had low testosterone levels prior to viral infection, or whether these concentrations rapidly drop as the disease progresses.
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