COVID-19 disease seemed to be less severe to women than what men experience. According to a new study that explained the gender disparity, the coronavirus' lesser effect could be down to oestrogen.

Several studies revealed that men face a greater chance of having a severe case of COVID-19. Besides, men have as much as twice the opportunity to die from the virus. Scientists at Wake Forest School of Medicine conducted a review of hormone activity data, particularly with oestrogen, to understand why it occurs.

According to Daily Mail, scientists found that the enzyme ACE2 that COVID-19 attaches to enter the heart is reduced because of higher oestrogen levels in women. The enzyme is more common in men due to a lack of oestrogen that keeps numbers down. That's why symptoms are worse in men, the team said.

Why Women May Experience Less Severe COVID-19 Disease than Men?
(Photo : John Moore)
Houston Fire EMS Faces Continued Surge Of Coronavirus Cases HOUSTON, TEXAS - AUGUST 13: A woman embraces her husband with possible COVID-19 symnptoms before medics with the Houston Fire Department EMS transported him to a hospital on August 13, 2020 in Houston, Texas. Several of the man's family members, including the wife, had also tested positive. The Latino community in Houston has been especially hard-hit during the coronavirus pandemic.

Researchers in the UK studied seventeen million adults and discovered that men could face twice the risk of death from coronavirus than women. There are several reasons why men are more likely to die from coronavirus, which include differences in lifestyles and innate immunity in women, as per the team.

Scientists assessed sex-specific hormone activity to get a deeper understanding of the differences in COVID-19 patients.

Dr.Leanne Groban, lead author, and anesthesiology professor, said, "We know that coronavirus affects the heart. And we know that oestrogen is protective against cardiovascular disease in women."

Dr.Groban explained that the most likely reason seemed to be hormonal differences between the sexes. According to Financial Express, Groban's researchers looked through the published literature focused on the angiotensin-converting enzyme2 or the ACE2. The enzyme2 is attached to cell membranes in the arteries, heart, kidneys. And intestines. 

The cellular receptor of the virus is responsible for COVID-19 infections and will help bring the virus into the organ systems' cells, as per the researchers. Oestrogen lowers the level of ACE2 in the heart that would modulate the severity of the disease in women, the review says.

Higher levels of ACE2 in tissues might have something to do with the worsening of men's symptoms than women, said Groban. "We hope that our review regarding the role of oestrogenic hormones in ACE2 expression and regulation may explain the gender differences in COVID-19 infection and outcomes," he added.

According to Daily Mail, there are two trials to start soon to discover if the short-term treatment of men with coronavirus through the use of oestrogen could reduce the severity of the symptoms. In an unrelated study earlier, it was found that men have been more likely to suffer severe cases of COVID-19 or die of the disease due to weaker immune responses. 

Male patients had inadequate production of different types of immune cells that can fight the virus and fight inflammation, as per the researchers. However, women's immune system had a strong response that would not decrease with age rather than in men.

According to the team from Yale University, findings deal with the clues in the differences between the sexes and the types of vaccines and treatments undergone by men and women. The journal Current Hypertension Reports has published the oestrogen study.

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