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Health & Wellness

All Is Not Equal

COVID-19 Mortality Rate Is Twice As High in Men

Jan 24, 2021, 5:57 AM
Gwenn Canlas

Gwenn Canlas

Columnist

As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, doctors face the stark reality that the virus does not seem to kill equally.

All over the world – in China, Italy, the United States, and Australia – many more men than women are dying from COVID-19.

Scientists have struggled to explain why men are more vulnerable to the diseases that put them at greater risk of hospitalization and death from the COVID-19.

Even Among Non-Smokers

When the disease first appeared in China, experts speculated that men suffered more from the virus because they are much more likely to smoke than Chinese women.

However, researchers quickly noticed that men in Spain were also more likely to die of COVID-19, even though men and women smoke at about the same rate.

Risky behavior, therefore, can not by itself explain the sex difference in COVID-19 deaths.

Sex Chromosomes

Behavioral differences between men and women provide only part of the answer.

Maybe sex chromosomes have other effects than differentiating men from women.

Sex chromosomes and the genes that lie on us differentiate us.

Women have two copies of a mid-sized chromosome (called the X). Men have only a single X chromosome and a small Y chromosome that contains few genes.

Women having two X chromosomes was not appreciated for many years.

Women Have 'Back Up'

Scientists always believed that women merely had a backup; in case one copy of a gene becomes defective. If they lacked a specific gene, it was alright because they always had another X chromosome they could draw on.

Men, on the other hand, have only one copy of the X chromosome.

So, if there is a defect or harmful gene on the X chromosome, they have no copy of that gene to correct the problem.

The male Y chromosome could explain why men suffer differently than women from various illnesses, including Covid-19, and the mortality rate is twice as high in men as in women.



Varied Immune Responses

A study published in Scientific Reports by Université de Montréal professor Christian Deschepper, director of the Experimental Cardiovascular Biology research unit of the Montreal Clinical Research Institute, discovered that men and women have varied immune responses against the COVID-19 infection.

The study showed how male genes on the Y chromosome allow male cells to function differently from female cells.

Men have an XY chromosome pairing, and it means they miss out on extra copies of some genes that could make a difference when it comes to fighting infectious diseases like that caused by the coronavirus.

Hormones, too, play a role: Testosterone can inhibit the immune system, while estrogen can stimulate it.



Less Susceptible

Women are less susceptible to viral infections based on different innate immunity, steroid hormones, and factors related to sex chromosomes.

The presence of two X chromosomes in women emphasizes the immune system even if one is inactive.

The immune regulatory genes encoded by the X chromosome in females cause lower viral load levels and less inflammation than in men.

The 'Helper'

CD4 T-cells, considered "helper" cells because they do not neutralize infections but rather trigger the body's response to infection, are higher with better immune response.

Besides, women generally produce higher levels of antibodies that remain in the circulation longer.

The amount of activation of the immune cells is higher in women than in men.

The X chromosome influences the immune system by acting on many other proteins.

These results could help to shed some light on why some illnesses affect men and women differently.

Yet women have their own form of suffering from COVID-19.



Brain Fog

Studies show women are four times more likely to experience long-term COVID-19 symptoms, lasting weeks or months, including fatigue, weakness, and a kind of mental confusion known as "brain fog,"

As women, maybe we survive it and are less likely to die, but then we have all these long-term complications.

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