Risk Factors for Severe COVID-19: What Makes It Harder for Some and Easier for Others?
/
The way it's reported, you'd think that susceptibility to COVID-19 severity is equally distributed across the world's population. But when you compare case and mortality rates between countries, differences emerge. There are even differences within countries and states and cities. It's clear that other variables besides simple exposure to the virus and infection are at play. Research continues to emerge regarding risk factors for severe COVID-19.
What are they?
And, more importantly, can you modify any of the variables?
Does Blood Type Predict COVID-19 Severity?Early on, researchers noticed an apparent association between blood type and coronavirus infection. Those with A or B-type blood were more likely to be positive; those with type O were less likely to carry the virus.Although the connection between blood type and infection risk has persisted, subsequent studies have failed to find any association between infection severity and blood type.Verdict: Doesn't appear to apply given current evidence. However, resistance to infection does confer a kind of protection against COVID-19 severity. If you're not infected, you can't develop any at all, let alone severe symptoms.Does Sex Determine Corona virus Survival?A meta-analysis of 12 studies performed in June 2020 found that males had a 31% higher risk of progressing to severe infection than females. All 12 studies analyzed had similar results; there was very little heterogeneity.Is this caused by sex, though? After all, from what I could tell, the meta-analysis failed to control for other variables that might have differed between the groups, like metabolic syndrome or obesity. And yet sex does play a role, even when a risk factor like obesity is accounted for. Other research confirms that overweight men are at greater risk for corona virus severity than overweight women, for example, and we know from previous research that men and women have different types of immune responses to viruses and vaccines.There may be a hormonal component to it, too. Estrogen therapy, for men and women, shows promise as a way to quiet inflammation (the source of corona virus-related lung trouble) and improve survival rates.Verdict: Sex matters. Men are at greater risk.
