Clinical significance of sex hormones in COVID-19

Abstract

80-89 and 90+ age groups. Ding, et al. [4] have shown that sex differences in COVID-19 severity and mortality may depend on menopausal status. Thus, they did not fi nd differences in disease severity and clinical outcomes when comparing post-menopausal women with age-matched men [4]. Yet, signifi cant differences existed between pre-menopausal women and age-matched men, with fewer pre-menopausal women suffering severe form of COVID-19 (46% versus 75% in men, P <0.01), and death (0% versus 9.7% in men, P <0.01) [4]. These results suggest that pre-menopausal state may have protective effect against COVID-19. Most researchers believe that excess mortality in men relative to women is largely due to higher prevalence of smoking, cardiovascular and lung disease co-morbidities [5]. Using a multinational registry formed of 14,712 patients with COVID-19, Alkhouli, et al. [5] found that all-cause mortality was 8.8% in men and 4.3% in