Bald men could be at a higher risk of dying from coronavirus because male hormones help the virus attack cells, scientists have revealed.
The hormone Androgen, which causes hair loss in men, has been linked to some of the worst cases of Covid-19 in Spanish hospitals
The discovery could be named the Gabrin Sign, after the first US physician to die of the illness in the US, Dr Frank Gabrin – a bald man.
Professor Carlos Wambier, the lead author of the key study behind the discovery from Brown University, told The Telegraph: ‘We really think that baldness is a perfect predictor of severity.’
It has previously been reported that data heavily suggested men who fell ill with coronavirus were more likely to die from it that women.
In the UK a report this week from Public Health England suggested working age men were twice as likely as women to die of the virus.
‘We think Androgens or male hormones are definitely the gateway for the virus to enter our cells,’ Prof Wambier added.
The professor has led two studies in Spain, with both finding a disproportionate number of men with male-patterned baldness being admitted to hospital with the deadly disease.
In one study of 122 patients, 79 per cent of men who tested positive in three Madrid hospitals were bald. It was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
An earlier study of 41 patients in Spain found 71 per cent were bald. It should be noted these were relatively small-scale studies and scientists have said more work needs to be done.
The background rate of baldness in white men of a similar age to those studied is between 31 and 53 per cent – a significant drop.
Meanwhile a separate trial has been launched by Matthew Rettig, oncologist at US Los Angeles, to test the effect of prostate drugs – reducing levels of androgens – on coronavirus in LA, Seattle and New York.
Another study in Veneto, Italy, of 9,280 patients found men with prostate cancer who were on androgen deprivation therapy were only a quarter more likely to become ill with Covid-19 than those on other treatments.
It comes as Britain yesterday announced 176 more coronavirus deaths, taking the total number of victims to 39,904 – as separate shock data suggests the UK’s outbreak is still killing more people each day than the rest of the EU countries combined.