ArticleEarly human development2020
Understanding COVID-19: Digit ratio (2D:4D) and sex differences in national case fatality rates.
Article in Early human development, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- Homozygous-Recessive Characteristics as a Biomarker of Predisposition for COVID-19.Clinical nursing research · 2023Article
- Testosterone and Covid-19: An update.Reviews in medical virology · 2023Review
- A further analysis of Manning and Fink (2020).Early human development · 2022Article
- Digit ratios and their asymmetries as risk factors of developmental instability and hospitalization for COVID-19.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Understanding the Geography of COVID-19 Case Fatality Rates in China: A Spatial Autoregressive Probit-Log Linear Hurdle Analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Androgens in SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infections.Physiological research · 2021Review
- Giving science the finger-is the second-to-fourth digit ratio (2D:4D) a biomarker of good luck? A cross sectional study.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2021Article
- An overview of sex hormones in relation to SARS-CoV-2 infection.Future virology · 2021Review
- Women's perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic: Walking into a post-peak phase.International journal of cardiology · 2021Article
- No credible evidence for links between 2D:4D and COVID-19 outcomes: A probabilistic perspective on digit ratio, ACE variants, and national case fatalities.Early human development · 2021Article
- Understanding COVID-19: A hypothesis regarding digit ratio (2D:4D), ACE I/D polymorphism, oxygen metabolism and national case fatality rates.Early human development · 2020Article
- Factors related to asymptomatic or severe COVID-19 infection.Medical hypotheses · 2020Article
- Second-to-fourth digit ratio and facial shape in Buryats of Southern Siberia.Early human development · 2020Article
- Repurposing existing drugs for COVID-19: an endocrinology perspective.BMC endocrine disorders · 2020Article
- Sex differences in the relationship between digit ratio (2D:4D) and national case fatality rates for COVID-19: A reply to Sahin (2020).Early human development · 2020Article
- (Mis-)understanding COVID-19 and digit ratio: Methodological and statistical issues in Manning and Fink (2020).Early human development · 2020Article
- Oxytocin receptor gene polymorphism (rs53576) and digit ratio associates with aggression: comparison in seven ethnic groups.Journal of physiological anthropology · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe reported national case fatality rates (CFRs) for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) shows a sex bias with males > females. The relative lengths of the index (2D) and ring (4D) fingers (digit ratio; 2D:4D) is a sexually dimorphic (males < females) proxy of fetal sex steroids (low 2D:4D indicates high prenatal testosterone/low prenatal estrogen).
aimTo examine sex-specific relationships of 2D:4D per nation with national values of COVID-19 CFRs. STUDY
designCOVID-19 CFRs and the percent of male deaths were related to mean national (self-reported) 2D:4D by sex and hand from a large online survey (the BBC Internet Study). SUBJECTS: 103,482 men and 83,366 women. OUTCOME MEASURES: Relationships of mean national 2D:4D with CFRs from 41 countries and with national male death rates from 16 countries.
resultsMale right and left hand 2D:4D showed positive relationships with CFR. These relationships remained significant after removing the influence of female 2D:4D. A positive association of male right and left 2D:4D was detected with the percentage of male deaths.
conclusionsAt the national level, high mean 2D:4D (indicating low prenatal testosterone/high prenatal estrogen) is associated with high CFRs and percent male mortality. At the individual level, high 2D:4D may be a risk factor for severity of COVID-19 in males. We speculate that male 2D:4D is a negative correlate for expression of the SARS-CoV2 receptor (ACE2).
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.