Coronavirus: mortality among women and men

Both men and women are equally at risk of contracting COVID-19. However, the outcome of the disease in men is often tragic. French experts speak about the reasons.

Doctors explain the difference in mortality from coronavirus among women and men by the presence of the first two X chromosomes – it is in them that immunity genes are concentrated. Increase the immune defense and female sex hormones, writes Le Monde.

With an equal degree of susceptibility to coronavirus infection, the mortality rate from infection among men is higher than that of women. The reasons for this phenomenon were explained by French doctors. Daniel Levy-Bruhl, Head of Respiratory Infections, French Public Health Service, notes:

“Men are more at risk of hospitalization due to COVID-19 and account for 58% of hospital deaths. They are also in the majority in intensive care units. “

In addition, among men, who are more susceptible to concomitant ailments, there is a higher percentage of those with chronic diseases – problems with the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, diabetes mellitus. In July last year, the results of the study “Social inequality in the face of the Covid-19 epidemic” were published, which convincingly prove:

“Among the population aged 65 and over, the risk of worsening comorbidity or obesity is higher in men than in women.”

Research by specialists from the Strasbourg University Hospital and the Pasteur Institute is of great importance. After observing 308 employees who had been ill with coronavirus in a mild form for six months, they made an unequivocal conclusion: in women after infection, the immune defense is much higher.

No less significant are the findings of researchers at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, published at the end of last year. Scientists have found that men infected with COVID-19 are three times more likely than women to need intensive care, and their risk of death is higher than that of the fairer sex. Women, as it turned out, produce more proteins of type I interferon, which helps to limit the abnormal immune response – a cytokine storm.

Earlier our publication wrote that vaccine effectiveness for women and men is not the same. The researchers found that coronavirus vaccines are more effective for men, and the results are “puzzling.” Usually the opposite happens – the female body gives a stronger immune response, reports Business Insider.

Perhaps it’s all about high estrogen levels, suggests Sabra Klein, co-chair of the Johns Hopkins Center for Women’s Health, Sexual and Gender Studies, for other reasons. For example, gender characteristics. Women are more inclined to take care of their health, pay attention to symptoms of ailment, and do testing. And today the number of vaccinated among women and men is different – the number of the former prevails.

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