Men could face nearly twice the risk of death from the disease as women

Health

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Source: Yale University

Around the world, men account for about 60% of deaths from COVID-19, which has sickened 22.2 million people and killed more than 782,000.

In England, researchers studying 17 million adults found that men could face nearly twice the risk of death from the disease as women...

In severe cases of COVID-19, an excessive buildup of cytokines, referred to as a “cytokine storm,” causes fluid to build up in the lungs, depriving the body of oxygen and potentially leading to shock, tissue damage, and multiple organ failure. The earlier higher concentrations of cytokines in men make these outcomes more likely.

In contrast, the researchers found that female patients had more robust activation than men of T-cells, white blood cells of the adaptive immune system that can recognize individual invading viruses and eliminate them...

Older men — but not older women — were observed to have significantly worse T-cell responses than younger patients.