COVID aftereffects more common in women, possibly linked to immune system: Japan researcher

TOKYO — Ladies usually tend to endure from COVID-19 aftereffects, particularly coughing, hair loss and style problems, a examine by Japanese researchers has revealed.

One issue attributed to those outcomes is that women and men have completely different immune programs, corresponding to “T cells” that get rid of viruses.

Hideki Ueno, a professor of human immunology at Kyoto College, has been conducting analysis based mostly on the speculation that “when T cells produced within the immune response system following viral an infection deviate from regular — both too many or too few — these aftereffects seem.”

Ueno examined the blood of about 70 sufferers who had been contaminated with the COVID-19 virus, together with the delta variant that peaked final summer season, and who had been affected by aftereffects. The outcomes confirmed that these illnesses tended to range in response to the quantity and kind of T cells that had been produced to get rid of the coronavirus and had been concerned in immune acquisition.

For instance, in ladies with sturdy signs of breathlessness and coronary heart pounding, the variety of each sorts of T cells, those who get rid of viruses and those who suppress extreme immune exercise, had been excessive. Briefly, it was thought that the immune system was “uncontrolled,” and that this was what prompted the signs.

In males, such reactions had been much less widespread, and Ueno mentioned, “Ladies have all the time been extra liable to autoimmune ailments corresponding to rheumatoid arthritis than males. The sample of immune response in ladies could also be associated to their susceptibility to autoimmune ailments and the aftereffects of the coronavirus.”

In the meantime, in males, there’s a chance {that a} completely different mechanism might result in the aftereffects. These with stronger signs of poor focus and despair tended to have decrease total T-cell counts.

Ueno speculated, “It’s believed that items of the virus are scattered in numerous organs because of viral an infection, but when the variety of T cells is low, these items can’t be faraway from the physique, and the signs might linger for a very long time.”

Nonetheless, there’s a chance that the immune response shall be completely different in sufferers affected by the aftereffects of the omicron variant that’s at present prevalent. Ueno hopes to have his information verified by researchers world wide, resulting in the elucidation of the mechanism of the aftereffects and the event of a therapy specializing in T cells.

The distinction in aftereffects between women and men was additionally confirmed in a large-scale survey carried out by a well being ministry analysis crew. The crew carried out a questionnaire on aftereffects amongst roughly 1,000 sufferers aged 18 or older who had been contaminated with the COVID-19 virus and hospitalized for therapy between January 2020 and February 2021. The survey additionally adopted them for 3 months, six months, and one yr after prognosis.

The outcomes confirmed that 46.3% of all respondents had a number of signs three months after prognosis, and 40.5% six months later. Though the quantity decreased over time, 33% nonetheless had some signs after one yr.

Wanting on the outcomes by gender, 43.5% of males and 51.2% of girls had signs three months after prognosis. The commonest signs amongst ladies had been coughing, hair loss, complications, and odor and style dysfunctions. The well being ministry concluded that “ladies clearly had the next proportion of aftereffects at three months (after prognosis).”

Nonetheless, after one yr, the hole had narrowed, with 32.1% of males and 34.5% of girls nonetheless experiencing signs. Amongst males, coughing, joint ache, muscle ache, and numbness within the arms and toes had been noticed.

(Japanese authentic by Mikako Shimogiri, Life-style and Medical Information Division)