Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine have found that men who have low testosterone levels and are infected with COVID-19 are more likely to be hospitalized than those with normal levels. The study studied 723 individuals who had tested positive for COVID-19 in a large scale in 2020 prior to vaccination. Data suggests that low testosterone, such as diabetes, heart disease and chronic lung disease, is an independent risk factor for COVID-19 hospitalization.
Researchers found that men with low testosterone and covid-infected were 2.4 times more likely to need hospitalization than covid-19-positive men with hormone levels within the normal range. Additionally, men whose testosterone levels were historically tested to be within the normal range but who had undergone successful hormone replacement therapy were no more likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 than men who did not. whose testosterone levels were consistently tested within the normal range.
The findings were published on September 2 in the JAMA Network Open. They have indicated that men can be protected from serious COVID-19 related diseases if their low testosterone is treated. It could also ease the strain on hospitals during Covid-19 waves.
“Covid-19 hospitalization is still an issue and will be a concern as the virus keeps mutating into new forms that bypass immunity based on vaccination. Up to a third of men over 30 have low testosterone, a relatively prevalent condition. Our research highlights the importance of this risk factor and the need to address it as a means to reduce hospitalization,” said co-senior author and University of Washington professor of medicine Abhinav Dewan.
St. Louis University endocrinologists Sandeep Dhindsa and Abhinav Dewan have previously shown that men hospitalized with COVID-19 have abnormally low testosterone levels.
For the study, the authors traced 723 men who reported COVID-19 cases in 2020 or 2021 and measured their testosterone levels between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2021. Testosterone levels are checked after a patient recovers from covid. According to Sandeep Dhindsa, men who reported low testosterone levels a few months after recovery also had low testosterone levels before.
The study found that 427 men with normal testosterone levels, 116 with low levels, and 180 who previously had low levels but were successfully treated. These men were receiving hormone replacement therapy, and at the time they developed COVID-19, their testosterone levels were within the normal range.
However, the therapy reduced the risk of hospitalization for men with low testosterone. “Below 200 nanograms per deciliter, where the normal range is 300 to 1,000 nanograms per deciliter, the risk increases dramatically. Age, obesity and other health problems that we saw as risk factors did not affect this. However, the risk to those receiving the therapy is as usual,” he said.
(with agency input)
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