scholarly journals Sex-Related Factors in Cardiovascular Complications Associated to COVID-19

Biomolecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Francesca Megiorni ◽  
Paola Pontecorvi ◽  
Giulia Gerini ◽  
Eleni Anastasiadou ◽  
Cinzia Marchese ◽  
...  

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the pandemic infection caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), presents with an extremely heterogeneous spectrum of symptoms and signs. The clinical manifestations seem to be correlated with disease severity. COVID-19 susceptibility and mortality show a significant sex imbalance, with men being more prone to infection and showing a higher rate of hospitalization and mortality compared to women. Such variability can be ascribed to both sex-related biological factors and gender-related behavioral cues. This review will discuss the potential mechanisms accounting for sex/gender influence in vulnerability to COVID-19. Cardiovascular diseases play a central role in determining COVID-19 outcome, whether they are pre-existent or arose upon infection. We will pay particular attention to the impact of sex and gender on cardiovascular manifestations related to COVID-19. Finally, we will discuss the sex-dependent variability in some biomarkers for the evaluation of COVID-19 infection and prognosis. The aim of this work is to highlight the significance of gendered medicine in setting up personalized programs for COVID-19 prevention, clinical evaluation and treatment.

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 5808
Author(s):  
Annalisa Giandalia ◽  
Alfio Edoardo Giuffrida ◽  
Guido Gembillo ◽  
Domenico Cucinotta ◽  
Giovanni Squadrito ◽  
...  

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is one of the most serious complications of both type 1 (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Current guidelines recommend a personalized approach in order to reduce the burden of DM and its complications. Recognizing sex and gender- differences in medicine is considered one of the first steps toward personalized medicine, but the gender issue in DM has been scarcely explored so far. Gender differences have been reported in the incidence and the prevalence of DKD, in its phenotypes and clinical manifestations, as well as in several risk factors, with a different impact in the two genders. Hormonal factors, especially estrogen loss, play a significant role in explaining these differences. Additionally, the impact of sex chromosomes as well as the influence of gene–sex interactions with several susceptibility genes for DKD have been investigated. In spite of the increasing evidence that sex and gender should be included in the evaluation of DKD, several open issues remain uncovered, including the potentially different effects of newly recommended drugs, such as SGLT2i and GLP1Ras. This narrative review explored current evidence on sex/gender differences in DKD, taking into account hormonal, genetic and clinical factors.


Author(s):  
Lorraine Greaves ◽  
Natalie Hemsing

Cannabis is the second most frequently used substance in the world and regulated or legalized for recreational use in Canada and fourteen US states and territories. As with all substances, a wide range of sex and gender related factors have an influence on how substances are consumed, their physical, mental and social impacts, and how men and women respond to treatment, health promotion, and policies. Given the widespread use of cannabis, and in the context of its increasing regulation, it is important to better understand the sex and gender related factors associated with recreational cannabis use in order to make more precise clinical, programming, and policy decisions. However, sex and gender related factors include a wide variety of processes, features and influences that are rarely fully considered in research. This article explores myriad features of both sex and gender as concepts, illustrates their impact on cannabis use, and focuses on the interactions of sex and gender that affect three main areas of public interest: the development of cannabis use dependence, the impact on various routes of administration (ROA), and the impact on impaired driving. We draw on two separate scoping reviews to examine available evidence in regard to these issues. These three examples are described and illustrate the need for more comprehensive and precise integration of sex and gender in substance use research, as well as serious consideration of the results of doing so, when addressing a major public health issue such as recreational cannabis use.


Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (Suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Uri Bender ◽  
Colleen M Norris ◽  
Valeria Raparelli ◽  
Tadiri Christina ◽  
Louise Pilote

Introduction: Gender refers to psycho-socio-cultural characteristics typically ascribed to men, women and gender-diverse individuals and has been shown to be associated with adverse clinical outcomes in AMI independent of sex. Substantial heterogeneity in hospital length of stay exists among patients admitted with NSTEMI. Whether sex and gender-based differences contribute to length-of-stay (LOS) among patients with NSTEMI remains unknown. Methods: To examine the relationship between sex, gender-related factors and LOS in adults hospitalized for NSTEMI, data from the GENESIS-PRAXY (n=1,210, Canada, U.S. and Switzerland), EVA (n=430, Italy) and VIRGO (n=3,572, U.S., Spain and Australia) studies of adults hospitalized for AMI were combined and analyzed. A best-fit linear regression model was selected through incremental analysis by stepwise addition of gender-related variables thought to be different in either impact or distribution between men and women. Results: Among the overall cohort (n=5,212), 2,218 participants with a diagnosis of NSTEMI were included in the final cohort (66% women, mean age 48.5 years, 67.8% U.S.). Half of the patients had a LOS of longer than 4 days (n=1,124) and were more likely to be white and have a clustering of cardiac risk factors in comparison to those with shorter LOS. No association between sex and LOS was observed in the bivariate analysis (p=0.87). In the multivariable model adjusted for sex, age, country of hospitalization, level of education, marital status, employment status, income, and social support, age (0.062 days/year, p=0.0002), being employed (-0.63 days in workers, p=0.01) and the treatment country relative to Canada (Italy=4.1 days; Spain=1.7 days; and the U.S.=-1.0 days, all p-value<0.001) were significant predictors of LOS. Conclusions: Employed individuals are more likely to experience a shorter LOS following NSTEMI. Variation in LOS exists across different countries and is likely due to institutional policy, resource allocation, and differences in cultural and psychosocial influences.


2021 ◽  
Vol 131 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-75
Author(s):  
Joanna Zembala-John

Abstract The COVID-19 epidemic has negatively affected all spheres of life, leading to the deterioration of health and quality of life. Although it has affected both men and women, it has had an extraordinary impact on the latter, exposing and exacerbating the existing health inequalities among those groups. There is increasing evidence that both sex and gender-related factors make women more prone to the harmful effects of SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, it is expected that the crisis caused by coronavirus will have long-term severe medical, social, and economic consequences in this population. This paper aimed to investigate the key factors contributing to the different outcomes of COVID-19 in men and women and present multi-dimensional effects of coronavirus pandemic from the perspective of women. Sex and gender differences must not be ignored in analyzing the impact of COVID-19. Sex/gender-oriented approach should be implemented in all public health actions: from collecting sex-disaggregated data to designing tailored repair post-COVID policies.


2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (11) ◽  
pp. 941-947 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saralyn Mark ◽  
Graham B.I. Scott ◽  
Dorit B. Donoviel ◽  
Lauren B. Leveton ◽  
Erin Mahoney ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 172-194
Author(s):  
Cyrille Kossigan Kokou-Kpolou ◽  
Askar Jumageldinov ◽  
Sunyoung Park ◽  
Nicolas Nieuviarts ◽  
Chama Khales ◽  
...  

Introduction: The impact of loss by death in young adults has been underinvestigated, although higher rates of traumatic deaths are reported at this developmental stage. This study examined the relative differential consequences of bereavement-related factors for Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder (PCBD) and depression. In addition, coping strategies predicting the study outcomes were examined as a function of bereavement-related factors. Methods: The study included 580 bereaved young adults with up to 5-year post loss. They were administered a battery of valided tools measuring PCBD symptoms, normal acute grief reactions as measured by the Core Bereavement Items scale, depressive symptoms, coping strategies, and bereavement-related characteristics. Covariance and regression analyses were used. Results: We found that the dimensions of PCBD and depressive symptoms were differentially associated with the bereavement-related factors. More specifically, the death of an immediate family member was associated with higher levels of PCBD-separation distress, whereas the traumatic death of a friend and romantic partner was more associated with PCBD-social and identity disruption. Furthermore, the study revealed differential associations between PCBD severity, depressive symptoms, and coping strategies as functions of bereavement-related factors. Discussion: The study has provided better understanding of clinical manifestations of PCBD as a function of etiologic risk factors. The results clarifying risk and protective factors are especially useful for improving effective bereavement-health counseling interventions among bereaved young adults.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhong Sun ◽  
Guozhong He ◽  
Ninghao Huang ◽  
Hongyu Chen ◽  
Shuwei Zhang ◽  
...  

Background: COVID-19 developed into a global pandemic in 2020 and poses challenges regarding the prevention and control capabilities of countries. A large number of inbound travelers from other regions could lead to a renewed outbreak of COVID-19 in the local regions. Globally, as a result of the imbalance in the control of the epidemic, all countries are facing the risk of a renewed COVID-19 outbreak brought about by travelers from epidemic areas. Therefore, studies on a proper management of the inbound travelers are urgent.Methods: We collected a total of 4,733,414 inbound travelers and 174 COVID-19 diagnosed patients in Yunnan province from 21 January 2020 to 20 February 2020. Data on place of origin, travel history, age, and gender, as well as whether they had suspected clinical manifestations for inbound travelers in Yunnan were collected. The impact of inbound travelers on the local epidemic was analyzed with a collinear statistical analysis and the effect of the control measures on the epidemic was evaluated with a sophisticated modeling approach.Results: Of the 174 COVID-19 patients, 60.9% were not from Yunnan, and 76.4% had a history of travel in Hubei. The amount of new daily cases in Yunnan was significant correlated with the number of inbound travelers from Hubei and suspected cases among them. Using Susceptible–Exposed–Infectious–Recovered (SEIR) model analysis, we found that the prevention and control measures dropped the local R0 down to 1.07 in Yunnan province.Conclusions: Our preliminary analysis showed that the proper management of inbound travelers from outbreak areas has a significantly positive effect on the prevention and control of the virus. In the process of resettlement, some effective measures taken by Yunnan province may provide an important reference for preventing the renewed COVID-19 outbreak in other regions.


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