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COVID-19 Gender Bias? #7

Open mikkokotila opened 4 years ago

mikkokotila commented 4 years ago

At least China and Finland data suggest that there is roughly 2:1 male-to-female bias with Covid-19.

What can we learn about this? What could be causing it? Hormones? Habits? Culture? Something else?

samoojas commented 4 years ago

One broad take on this: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/explainer-are-men-really-more-vulnerable-women-covid-19-experts-weigh Central point: It remains still unclear if gender difference is a matter of gender bias in the exposures.

However, there are results derived from animal studies suggesting estrogen (or like) hormone(s) adding resistance to corona viruses such as SARS and COVID-19. Notable is also that with Covid-19 like in other viral diseases (chickenpox, hepatitis A), children seem to be only very mildly affected if at all.

samoojas commented 4 years ago

Newer take: https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-03-21/why-is-the-coronavirus-more-deadly-for-men-than-for-women The statistics released by Italy show that while there have been more male infections (58%), they have 75% higher death rate among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. China's reported statistics show the same trend with about 65 higher fatality rate in men with confirmed COVID-19 cases than in women.

Much more common smoking tobacco among man likely explains some part of the gender difference. Studies with corona viruses in mice have shown estrogen as a cause fewer death in affected female mice. (Estrogen affects many facets of the female physiology, so pinpointing the exact causal chain of relationships, even in mice, will not come easily.)

samoojas commented 4 years ago

I'll try to look for actual scientific papers on the matter, if anything beyond the mouse study exists.