LONDON: Estrogen is a category of sex hormones responsible for the development and regulations of the female reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics. Recent research shows that older women’s estrogen levels can be attributed to their opportunities to die from Covid-19, with a higher level of hormone seems to protect against severe infections. This research was published in the ‘BMJ Open’ open access journal. It may be necessary to explore additional hormone treatments to curb the severity of Covid-19 infection in women who have gone through menopause, the researchers said.
Women seem to have a lower risk of severe Covid-19 infection than men, even after taking into account potentially influential factors. And this also applies to other recent viral infections, such as MERS (Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome). It has been suggested, therefore, that estrogen may have a role in this gender difference. To explore this further, the researchers compare the potential effects of increasing and reducing estrogen levels at the severity of Covid-19 infection
They draw national data from the Swedish General Health Agency (all positive testing for SARS-COV-2); Swedish statistics (socio-economic factors); and the National Health and Welfare Council (Causes of Death). Overall, 49,853 women were diagnosed with Covid-19 between February 4 and September 14, 2020 in Sweden, 16,693 of them between 50 and 80 years.
The study sample included 14,685 women in total: 227 (2 percent) had previously been diagnosed with breast cancer and used estrogen inhibiting drugs (adjuvant therapy) to curb the risk of cancer recurrence (Group 1), and 2535 (17 percent (17 percent)) took therapy Hormone replacement (HRT) to increase their estrogen levels in an effort to alleviate menopausal symptoms (Group 2).
About 11,923 (81 percent) women act as comparison groups because they are not on all types of care, both to increase or reduce their systemic estrogen levels. Analysis of all data shows that compared with no estrogen treatment, the chances of crude oil dying from Covid-19 twice as high among women in the Estrogen Blocker (Group 1), but 54 percent lower among women on HRT (Group 2). After taking into account potentially influential factors, such as age, annual disposal income, educational achievement, and healthy health conditions, the chances of death from Covid-19 remain significantly lower (53 percent) for women on HRT (Group 2) .
Not surprisingly, age is significantly associated with the risk of death from Covid-19, with every additional year related to 15 percent greater opportunities, while any additional coexist living conditions increase the chances of death by 13 percent. And those who have lowest household income almost 3 times more likely to die because they have the highest.
This is an observational study, and therefore, cannot determine the cause. There is no data about the right dose of HRT or estrogen or duration inhibitors, or on weight or smoking, while the number of women in group 1 on adjuvant therapy is relatively small. These factors may have been influential. But the researchers concluded, “this study shows the relationship between the levels of estrogen and Covid-19 death. As a result, drugs that increase estrogen levels may have a role in therapeutic efforts to relieve the severity of Covid-19 in postmenopausal women and can be studied in random control trials. . “.”