When it comes to Covid-19, men rather embody the weaker sex.
They are more often hospitalized, more often in intensive care and they die more.
But in addition, when they have been infected with the virus, they lose their protective antibodies more quickly than women.
This is what has just revealed a study by the University Hospitals of Strasbourg and the Institut Pasteur, available on the pre-publication site medRxiv.
Given this male fragility, a question arises: could the vaccine be less effective on men?
This is a matter of concern, although at this time no one can answer that question.
To carry out their study, the researchers looked at 308 members of the nursing staff in Strasbourg, for whom the exact date of the contamination was known.
"We examined for all, after 3 months and then 6 months after infection, the quantity of antibodies and their capacity to neutralize the virus", explains Professor Olivier Schwartz (virus and immunity unit) of the Institut Pasteur , co-author of the study with Prof. Samira Fafi-Kremmer.
This monitoring very quickly highlighted the differences over the months between women and men, with for the latter a more rapid decrease in neutralizing antibodies.
"There are probably different explanations for this phenomenon," explains Professor Olivier Schwartz.
One of the possible hypotheses is genetic.
We know that the X chromosome influences immunity.
Women (XX) have two.
This would give women a slightly different immune response than men (XY) who only have one.
Hormones could also be responsible for these findings.
Finally, environmental factors could also be involved.
Men have more co-morbidities, in particular due to higher average alcohol and tobacco consumption.
Of 29,000 hospital deaths, 59% are men
This particular masculine fragility is found throughout the illness.
Certainly, there are apparently as many women as men who are infected with the Covid-19 virus.
But according to the weekly data published by Public Health France, it appears that the so-called strong sex is over-represented in the hecatomb linked to the epidemic, both for hospital admissions, for those in intensive care and for deaths.
This is a phenomenon observed in other countries.
In the latest report in France published a week ago by the health authorities, it appears that among the 193,100 patients listed who have been hospitalized for Covid-19 since March 1, 2020, 53% are men (average age 72) .
And of 29,000 hospital deaths, 59% are too.
The situation is even worse when it comes to intensive care admissions.
Surveillance in France thanks to a network of 226 intensive care units, reactivated since October 5, 2020, revealed that among 1967 patients in intensive care, 72% were men (63% are over 65 years old).
Note that in this analysis, 88% of patients admitted to intensive care presented at least one other risk factor, obesity, arterial hypertension, diabetes ... Of course, the mere fact of being a man is not enough - fortunately - to lead you in intensive care.
But these data should prompt redoubled caution.
While people over 60 need to be extra vigilant and obey barrier measures, men in this age group may need to be even more careful.
