Men With These Type Of Fingers Are More Likely To Die From Coronavirus, Says Study
This is an interesting connection.
77MalgorzataFels77 / Shutterstock / MIA Studio / Shutterstock It's been a few months since coronavirus became prevalent in the United States, and now that we know more about it, interesting studies are coming out all the time... including this totally unexpected one.
Apparently, men with long ring fingers are less likely to die from COVID-19, and the reasoning behind it is actually pretty interesting — and scientific all at the same time.
Here's what you need to know.
These new findings are part of a study examining how coronavirus affects men and women differently.
It makes sense that men and women would handle coronavirus differently and now, we've found one more way that's true. A study that will be published in the July 2020 edition of the Early Human Development Journal has discovered that men who have longer ring fingers aren't just less likely to die from COVID-19 — if they do contract it, they are also more likely to have milder cases than men who have shorter fingers. Super-specific, yes, but definitely interesting.
It all ties back to testosterone.
Longer ring fingers happen when men are exposed to more testosterone in the womb, and that means that they have more of the ACE2 enzyme in their body, which helps protect the body from coronaviruses like COVID-19. At the same time, that enzyme can also keep coronavirus from causing damage to the lungs, which can reduce the symptoms they experience.
A professor working on the study seems optimistic about their findings.
Professor John T. Manning, who published this study, seems to believe that this could mean good things for men who do happen to come down with COVID-19.
“The theory is that someone with high prenatal testosterone — and a long ring finger — has greater levels of ACE2," he said. "These concentrations are large enough to oppose the virus. Our findings may be men with long ring fingers will experience mild symptoms and could return to work.”
Men in certain countries will be less likely to have severe symptoms because of it.
Men in certain countries are already predisposed to having long ring fingers — in fact, those living in Australia, New Zealand, Austria and East Asia are at an advantage, while men from England are not and have made up 56% of coronavirus deaths so far. It's positive for men who did happen to win the genetic lottery, but of course, it's nothing that anyone has control over.
Men are still more likely to contract COVID-19.
Though this is certainly good news for men who fit into the long finger category, in general, men are more likely to die from coronavirus than women — 2.4 times more likely. Older men and men with pre-existing conditions are also more likely to die than women who are facing the same odds.
Longer fingers aren't a foolproof way to know if coronavirus will be severe or deadly, though.
The more we know about coronavirus, the faster we'll be able to attack it, so any developments like this study are a great sign. Stlll, no matter how long anyone's fingers are... remember to practice great hygiene and wear a mask in public. No coronavirus is way better than even the mildest case, after all.
Nicole Pomarico is an entertainment and lifestyle writer whose work has appeared in Cosmo, Us Weekly, Refinery29, and more.