DOCTORS are working on new research suggesting that women receiving HRT could be protected from the coronavirus.
National Statistics Office data previously found that working-age men were twice as likely to develop Covid-19 than their female counterparts.
The numbers showed that there were 9.9 deaths per 100,000 in men, compared to 5.5 per 100,000 in women.
Now a doctor has suggested that this may be due to the fact that many women are protected from the virus due to their hormone medication.
The specialist for menopause, Dr. Louise Newson said today that specialists are currently investigating how hormones can prevent women from becoming infected with the virus.
When she talked about Good Morning Britain, she said, “What we do know is that men with Covid-19 are more seriously ill than women, and we know that they die more often and are in ICU more often.
“We have been thinking for some time that it has something to do with our hormones. We also know that women who are younger and women who take HRT seem to have some protection.
“We also know that pregnancy is also protective and that people in pregnancy obviously have very high hormone levels.”
So far, over 35,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the UK, and research could find out why more men succumbed to the disease than women.
Dr. Louise said she is currently working with Professor Tim Spector and his team on a new application called Zoe.
The app aims to investigate various Covid symptoms, and the team has now started asking questions about hormone therapy.
These relate to whether a woman receives HRT or not, whether she has a period or whether she is taking the contraceptive pill.
“We want to find the data so that we can obviously provide some evidence to policy makers,” added Dr. Louise added.
“I am also working with a team of experts in infectious diseases, clinical pharmacology and public health at Liverpool University so that we can really investigate this potential role of estrogen in Covid-19.
“We know that estrogen is very important to our immunity, the cells that fight infection, and we have estrogen receptors on these cells.
“We know that stimulation with estrogen makes them work better. This makes them more efficient and more likely to fight the disease. ”
There are numerous theories as to why men are more likely to suffer from severe cases of the coronavirus.
There is evidence that men have more angiotensin converting enzyme that allows the Covid virus to enter the lungs and other tissues.
While testosterone is known to suppress the immune system and is at a higher level in men.
Most women experience some or all of the symptoms of menopause before they reach a certain age, and many turn to HRT for relief.
HRT is a treatment that uses estrogen and progesterone to relieve menopausal symptoms.
There are several ways to take HRT, and it can be administered via tablets, skin patches, gels and vaginal creams, pessaries or rings.
One study claimed that women on hormone replacement therapy tend to live longer.
Taking menopause has “survival benefits” and lowers the overall risk by 30 percent, according to experts.
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