Testosterone Levels in Men Linked to COVID-19 Severity, Study Says

A study published suggests that there is a link between heightened testosterone levels in men and the likelihood of suffering from severe COVID-19 symptoms. Adding that testosterone therapy could aid in the recovery of long-haul COVID-19 patients.

What is Testosterone?

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According to Harvard Health, testosterone is a male sex hormone that plays a major role in the body. It is vital in the development of the reproductive organs, deepening of the voice, the appearance of facial hair, muscle size and strength, bone growth and strength, sex drive, and sperm production.

Signals from the brain to the pituitary gland control the production and distribution of testosterone in men. The pituitary gland will then relay the signals to the man's testes to produce testosterone. To regulate the amount of hormones in the blood, a "feedback loop" is put in place, wherein the brain orders the decline of testosterone production when levels become too high.

Contrary to popular belief, testosterone is one of the many male hormones produced in the ovary and adrenal glands of women. In the woman, testosterone has vital effects on bone strength, ovarian function, sexual behavior, and more.

Complications commonly associated with abnormally high testosterone levels in men are liver disease, acne, low sperm count, heart muscle damage, weight gain, high blood pressure, headaches, mood swings, and stunted growth during puberty.

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Link Between Testosterone Levels and COVID-19 Severity

Initially, experts believed in a negative correlation between testosterone levels and COVID-19 severity due to more cases of COVD positive cases in men than women. However, researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine found evidence suggesting the opposite.

Results published in the journal JAMA Network, entitled "Association of Circulating Sex Hormones With Inflammation and Disease Severity in Patients With COVID-19" shows that lower testosterone levels in men make them susceptible to suffer from severe COVID-19 symptoms including the need for ventilators or mortality. With studies now being carried out to determine whether men recovering from COVID may benefit from testosterone therapy.

As of yet, there is no evidence suggesting a relationship between COVID-19 and women's hormones.

Researchers used blood samples of 60 women and 92 men from the Barnes Jewish Hospital and measured the hormonal levels of those with COVID-19 symptoms. The tests showed a wide variety of hormones, but testosterone was the only hormone that showed a strong relationship with COVID-19 outcomes, reports Daily Mail.

Low testosterone is conventionally at 250 nanograms per deciliter. Men admitted to the hospital due to severe COVID-19 symptoms showed testosterone levels of 53 nanograms per deciliter on average. And after three days of hospitalization, the testosterone levels in men's blood dropped to roughly 19 nanograms per deciliter.

Proportionally, data shows that the longer men were hospitalized suffering from severe COVID-19 symptoms, the lower their testosterone levels dropped. Even men exhibiting mild symptoms show an average of 151 nanograms less than normal levels, which is roughly a 40% decline.

Abhinav Diwan, the senior author explains that if men with low testosterone levels came to the hospital, the risks of suffering from severe COVID-19 symptoms such as the need for intensive care and dying were much higher compared to men with more circulating testosterone in the blood.