Two small but interesting studies show that there may be a link between bald men and the severity of COVID-19 symptoms. Researchers are investigating the possible association after medical personnel noted the high frequency of male pattern baldness among patients admitted to the hospital with the disease.

According to the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Gregory Poland, a COVID-19 expert at the clinic suggested that the androgens or male sex hormones prescribed to men with hair loss, could be the explanation.

“The interesting thing is they also found this true for older women who were experiencing more of a male pattern baldness because of elevated androgenic hormones,” said Poland. He added that the correlation may be similar to the theory that certain blood types react differently to the coronavirus.

The Economic Times reports that scientists who compared the genes of thousands of Patients in Europe found that those who had type A blood were more likely to have severe disease while those with type O were less likely. These reports confirm a previous Chinese study of such links between COVID-19 and blood type.

Poland emphasized that not all of the severe cases of COVID-19 can be attributed to these possible risk factors.

“It’s very unfortunate, we see young, healthy kids and young, healthy adults getting very complicated, very fatal disease,” he said, according the Mayo Clinic. “So, what we know about the risk factors we know about doesn’t explain all of it. That’s why I still tell people, you know, universal precautions are still in order here. This is a serious disease.”