Sex disparities in COVID-19 outcomes of diabetic patients

Eur J Endocrinol. 2021 Sep 1:EJE-21-0721.R1. doi: 10.1530/EJE-21-0721. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTIn this SARS-COV2-pandemic, diabetes mellitus soon emerged as one of the most prominent risk factors for a severe course of COVID-19 and increased mortality due to hyperglycemia/insulin resistance, obesity, inflammation, altered immune status and cardiovascular complications. In general, men are at a higher risk of severe or fatal COVID-19 disease irrespective of age, region and despite comparable infection rates in both sexes. In COVID-19, there is also a male predominance among hospitalised patients with diabetes, however, overall, data among patients with diabetes are ambiguous so far. Of note, similar to cardiovascular complications, women with type 2 diabetes appear to lose their biological female advantage resulting in comparable death rates to those of men. The complex interplay of biological and behavioural factors, which may put men at greater risk of a severe or fatal course of COVID-19, and gender-related psychosocial factors, which may disadvantage women concerning infection rates, might explain why sex-disaggregated data among infected patients with diabetes are conflicting. Better knowledge on biological factors leading to functionally different immune responses and of gender-sensitive sociocultural determinants of COVID-19 infection rates may help to optimize prevention and management in the high-risk groups of men and women with diabetes.PMID:34516392 | DOI:10....
Source: European Journal of Endocrinology - Category: Endocrinology Authors: Source Type: research