Scientists from the academic hospital MUMC + in Maastricht argue that more attention should be paid to the differences between men and women in the treatment of the corona virus.
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According to the researchers, it is known that drugs can work differently in men and women, and that they can also have different side effects in different sexes.
More men are dying from corona
The statistics also show that men are more likely to die after a corona infection than women: 10.4 percent versus 7.0 percent, while men and women are just as likely to be infected with the virus. “That does indicate that gender influences the course of the disease and recovery,” say researchers Veronique Schiffer and Emma Janssen who conducted the study.
One size fits all
The researchers took a closer look at thirty (international) scientific studies from the first half of this year that have been carried out on drugs against corona. In a quarter of the studies, the study population included twice as many men as women. With the exception of one study, these studies did not differentiate between the effect of drugs in men or women. The principle is still too often used in medicine one-size-fits-all applied and that is outdated, say the Maastricht researchers.
“All patients receive the same treatment, although we do see differences in the expression of the disease between men and women. Women in intensive care, for example, recover faster than men when it comes to organ failure. Also, treatments can work better in one sex than with the other, which could possibly prevent someone from ending up in the ICU “, says internist-intensivist Dr Bas van Bussel.
The MUMC + has collaborated with various other hospitals in the Euregion for the study.
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