Maybe a little of that toxic masculinity isn't so bad after all:
Men with symptomatic Covid-19, who were found to have low testosterone following admittance to hospital, were more likely to become severely ill and die from the disease, new research has shown.
The study, carried out in Milan during the first wave of coronavirus in 2020, 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.
The findings are being presented at the European Association of Urology congress, EAU21, which runs this week from July 8-12.
At least now I understand why those basement dwelling dweebs and soy boy neckbeard weaklings were demanding everyone stay locked up in their bedroom with 17 masks on for the rest of time!
Professor Andrea Salonia and his colleagues at the San Raffaele University Hospital in Milan compared 286 male Covid patients, who came to the emergency department, with 305 healthy male volunteers, who attended 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 litre (nmol/l) and 9.2 or below is deemed the threshold for low testosterone, termed hypogonadism.
Nearly 90 per cent of the patients had testosterone below this level, compared to just 17 per cent of the healthy volunteers. Furthermore, testosterone levels in the patients were also significantly below the threshold, averaging around 2.5 nmol/l.
Those patients who had mild symptoms or were admitted to 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).
Even when men's age, pre-existing conditions, and BMI were accounted for, the difference was still pronounced.
Professor Salonia, a specialist in urology and endocrinology at San Raffaele Hospital, says:
"At the start of the Covid pandemic, we were seeing far more men than women coming to hospital and suffering very severe forms of the disease. We immediately thought this might be related to male hormone levels, particularly testosterone.
"But we 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 relationship is very clear: the lower the testosterone, the higher the severity of the condition and likelihood of death. I've never seen anything like it in my 25 years in the field."
The researchers aren't sure if the men's testosterone levels were low before they got sick or if the virus had something to do with decreasing levels.
Still, for you men out there: instead of staying home in bubble wrap to protect yourself from all risks in life, you might want to take some time to go chop down a tree, shoot a blaster, play with your kids, grill some meat, stand up to your woke school board, kiss your wife, punch a bear, and build something with your own hands.
