COVID-19 Mortality Rates are Higher Among Men

Men are dying from COVID-19 at a higher rate than women, says a new review article from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC).

In a review published in Frontiers in Immunology, researcher-clinicians at BIDMC explore the sex-based physiological differences that may affect risk and susceptibility to COVID-19, the course and clinical outcomes of the disease and response to vaccines.

Coronavirus
Coronaviruses infect animals, humans, and birds. Human coronaviruses, such as SARS, MERS, and 2019-nCoV cause respiratory distress and even death. The S protein is the infectious agent of the virus.

‘Apart from behavioral and lifestyle factors that differ between men and women, sex chromosome-linked genes, sex hormones and the microbiome control aspects of the immune responses to infection and are important biological contributors to the sex-based differences seen in men and women in the context of COVID-19.’

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"The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed a striking gender bias with increased mortality rates in men compared to women across the lifespan," said corresponding author Vaishali R. Moulton, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at BIDMC.

Demographic differences between men and women predispose each group to risk in different ways.

Men are more likely to smoke cigarettes which is a known risk factor for severe COVID-19 and are more prone to cardiovascular disease and hypertension, important underlying comorbidities in COVID-19.

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Women are more likely to work in health care thereby increasing their exposure to the virus.

Many animal and human studies reveal that females tend to produce stronger immune responses to infections than males, this may be linked to increased susceptibility to inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

The scientists, by reviewing the scientific literature regarding sex-based differences in cells of the immune system conclude that sex is a crucial yet understudied and often overlooked variable in research related to immunity and infectious disease, X chromosome-linked genetics, sex hormones, the ACE-2 receptor and the microbiome,

"Vaccine-related research and clinical trials, including those currently underway for COVID-19, must include sex as a key variable when measuring and reporting outcomes," said Moulton, who is also an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Moving forward, understanding these factors will help us better understand COVID-19 and guide the design of effective therapies and vaccine strategies towards sex-based personalized medicine moving forward.

Source-Medindia