In a new study from the San Raffaele University Hospital, researchers found that men with symptomatic COVID-19, who were found to have low testosterone following admittance to the hospital, were more likely to become severely ill and die from the disease.
The study was carried out in Milan during the first wave of coronavirus in 2020.
The researchers found that the lower the levels of testosterone, the higher the likelihood that male patients would need intensive care, be intubated on a ventilator and remain in hospital over a longer period. Their likelihood of dying increased six-fold.
In the study, the team compared 286 male COVID patients, who came to the emergency department, with 305 healthy male volunteers, who attended the hospital to give blood between Feb and May 2020.
The team checked both patients and volunteers for levels of male hormones, including testosterone. Testosterone is measured in nanomoles per liter (nmol/l) and 9.2 or below is deemed the threshold for low testosterone, termed hypogonadism.
Nearly 90% of the COVID patients had testosterone below this level, compared to just 17% of the healthy volunteers.
Furthermore, testosterone levels in the patients were also below the threshold, averaging around 2.5 nmol/l.
Those patients who had mild symptoms or were admitted to the hospital had slightly higher testosterone levels (between 3-4 nmol/l) than those admitted to ICU or those who died of the disease (just 0.7-1.0 nmol/l).
The researchers never expected to see such a high proportion of COVID patients with these extremely low levels of testosterone, in comparison to a similar group of healthy men.
The link is very clear: the lower the testosterone, the higher the severity of the condition and likelihood of death.
Because the team does not have data on the testosterone levels in the patients before they contracted COVID-19, they cannot say whether low testosterone was a pre-existing long-term condition that exacerbated the disease or whether it was caused by the SARS-COV2 virus.
However, other research has shown that some receptors for the virus, including the enzyme TMPRSS2, are linked to male hormones and that the virus reduces the number of Leydig cells in the body, which produce testosterone.
If you care about COVID, please read studies about new guidelines for COVID-vaccinated people and findings of people with severe COVID-19 have too much of this stuff in blood.
For more information about COVID and your health, please see recent studies about this nutrient supplement may help prevent severe COVID-19, boost recovery and results showing that common diabetes drug could strongly cut COVID-19 death risk.
The study was presented at the European Association of Urology congress. One author of the study is Professor Andrea Salonia.
Copyright © 2021 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
