A new study has revealed important information about how a patient’s testosterone level can help protect them from severe Covid-19.
Previous research involving Swansea University investigated how sex hormones are likely to be important determinants of Covid-19 severity.
Now digit ratio expert Professor John Manning, of the Applied Sports, Technology, Exercise and Medicine (A-STEM) research team, has been working with colleagues in Poland and Sweden to look more closely at the subject.
He says their findings, which have just been published by prestigious online journal Andrology, could have significant implications for public health and future treatments.
Professor Manning said: “Covid-19 varies markedly in its severity across both nations and individuals. It is most severe in elderly men. This has led to suggestions that testosterone may influence severity. However, it is unclear whether testosterone increases or decreases severity.
“In collaboration with colleagues in Poland and Sweden, we have been looking at testosterone-dependent finger patterns in hospitalized patients compared to controls.”
He explained there are two opposing explanations – the low-androgen-driven and high-androgen-driven theories. The first theory implicates high testosterone as aiding infection by the virus, but the latter theory argues that is the low levels of testosterone found in elderly men which increases their inflammatory immune response to Covid, resulting in a poor prognosis.
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