COVID-19 cases continue to decline in Spain. According to the latest Health report, the hospital occupancy has dropped in the last month by almost 50%, from 3 to 1.6%, and the transmission level in those over 59 years of age it is situated at values considered normal (50 cases per hundred thousand inhabitants). A scenario that is repeated globally. Covid recedes, but continues to cause deaths every day.
Mortality from Covid-19 has been the subject of study since the pandemic began. The virus affects men and women equally, but mortality rates vary by gender. Thus, according to the data compiled in different countries by various studies, it is observed that mortality is higher in men than in women (10.2% compared to 5.8%).
Why Covid kills more men than women
Now, a study carried out on mice by researchers at Hackensack Meridian Health (United States) and published in the ‘International Journal of Molecular Sciences’ has shown that the coronavirus attacks fatty tissue first in women and not the lung, which could explain why this virus kills more men
“Our data suggested that in female mice, adipose tissue may act as a sink/reservoir for SARS-CoV-2 and thus prevents the lungs from suffering a higher viral load, preventing lung damage due to infiltrated immune cells and activated pro-inflammatory cytokines,” the researchers commented.
Mouse models, which mimic the human immune system, showed that females lost more fat compared to males when they were infected with COVID-19. In fact, males had more virus in their lungs, while females showed more virus in fat tissue, so the researchers believe that adipose (fat) tissue in females may act as a ‘sink’ or ‘reservoir’. ‘ of the virus.
Persistent covid affects women more
While death rates from Covid-19 are higher in men, women are at higher risk of sequelae after an infection. This was revealed by a study published in the scientific journal ‘Current Medical Research and Opinion’ which concluded that the female sex is a risk factor for the development of persistent Covid. The researchers point out that the chances of suffering from this disease derived from Covid-19 is 22% higher when it comes to women and, in addition, they also experience different symptoms than men.
These results are consistent with those of other studies that They also put a female face on this disease. In 2020, a Survey by the Spanish Society of General and Family Physicians (SEMG) and the groups affected by LONG COVID ACTS concluded that a “43-year-old woman with more than 185 days suffering from symptoms, among a range of 200 such as fatigue , headaches and muscle aches, low mood or shortness of breath” was the profile of the persistent covid patient.
Another study from January 2022 published in the ‘Journal of Clinical Medicine’ magazine and carried out with covid-19 patients admitted to five Spanish public hospitals during the first wave, showed that, eight months after dischargewomen presented more symptoms of fatigue, dyspnea, pain, hair loss, eye problems, depression and worse sleep quality That men.
“Recognizing that covid-19 affects women and men differently is a crucial step towards a better understanding of the pathophysiology and the nature of post-covid sequelae and symptoms and the promotion of individualized healthcare solutions”, highlighted Esperanza Navarro-Pardo, a professor at the Department of Evolutionary Psychology at the UV and research participant.
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Also, according to this research, sex does not seem to be related to the type of symptoms at the beginning of the disease, so that the symptoms of covid-19 on admission were similar in men and women, except for the prevalence of headache as the initial symptom, which was more common in women than in men. This indicates that the initial affectation by covid-19 is similar in both sexes.
