As Covid-19 sweeps through nations at a seemingly unstoppable rate, scientists desperately try to understand it. Most importantly they are seeking to find out what makes one person more vulnerable than another.
One trend that has become apparent from the data across every country is men are at a higher risk of dying than women.
“We are seeing with every country that provides us with sex-disaggregated data that men are more likely to die from the virus, anything from 10 percent to more than twice as likely,” said professor Sarah Hawkes, the director of the UCL Centre for Gender and Global Health in the UK.
Scientists believe part of the disparity is driven by behaviour: men are more likely to smoke and drink heavily. However, this cannot explain the data entirely.
Hormonal differences are believed to also play a role; as well as genetic differences. Many of the genes that regulate the immune system are found on the X chromosome- men have one X chromosome whereas women have two.
“We know that women’s immune systems function differently to men’s – after all, women’s bodies are designed to host a foetus for nine months at a time without it being rejected as a foreign body,” professor Hawkes said.
In general women’s immune systems launch a better defence against infection and viruses.
Dr Sabra Klein, an immunologist has said she is disappointed by the lack of awareness of this issue:
“I am disappointed that many of the public health officials around the world are not speaking out that being male is indeed a risk factor for a more severe outcome and, in particular, being an older male. I do think that there could be public heath messaging [that] could occur in that context.” she said.
Read More: France 24
