05/10/2020 - 20:01
- Clarín.com
- Society
A report published by the European Society of Cardiology could explain why men suffer more from the effects of the coronavirus than women. The answer is that men's blood contains higher concentrations of an enzyme called ACE2 (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2).
"Because ACE2 allows the coronavirus to infect healthy cells, this could help explain why men are more vulnerable to Covid-19 than women," the European Society of Cardiology said in a statement.
The evidence comes from a long study of thousands of patients, to be published Tuesday in the European Heart Journal .
Men are more vulnerable to COVID-19 (AP).
The researchers measured ACE2 concentrations in blood samples taken from two groups of heart failure patients from 11 European countries.
1,485 men and 537 women participated in the first group, with an average age of 69 years for men and 75 years for women. The scientists then validated their findings in a second group of 1,123 men and 575 women, aged 74 and 76 respectively.
When the researchers analyzed a number of clinical factors that could play a role in ACE2 concentrations - including the use of inhibitors and a history of lung disease - they found that male sex was the strongest predictor of elevated concentrations of this enzyme.
The team led by Adriaan Voors, a professor of cardiology at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) in the Netherlands, was already studying the differences in blood disease markers between men and women before the coronavirus outbreak. The results were available shortly after the pandemic began.
Men's blood contains higher concentrations of the above ACE2 (EFE).
"We found that one of the strongest biomarkers, ACE2, is much higher in men than in women. We realized that this had the potential to explain why men are more likely to die of Covid-19 than women, "said first study author Iziah Sama of the same University Medical Center.
The ACE2 enzyme is found in the lungs, heart, kidneys, and tissues that line blood vessels . But the most important fact - for the results of this study - is that there are particularly high levels of ACE2 in the testicles .
The researchers speculate that its regulation in the testicles could partially explain the higher concentrations of ACE2 in men and, consequently, why men are more vulnerable to Covid-19.
The disease has already caused more than 280 thousand deaths in the world and although the figures vary in each country, men are the majority. In Argentina, for example, this weekend the line of 300 fatal cases was exceeded: 6 out of 10 were men.
