“It’s hard to see what’s in front of a person’s nose,” George Orwell wrote, and he finds it even harder to see in front of our masks in this endless pandemic.
Take the strong case of the effect of estrogen, the female hormone, on the coronavirus. Simply put, research suggests that women with more estrogen in their bodies are less likely to die and more likely to have milder symptoms of Covid-19. Doctors are also finding that climbing low hormone levels seems to help some women who suffer from Covid for a long time. However, this area of research is largely neglected. Why do you think?
We know that two-thirds of coronavirus deaths occur in men. But Covid’s female mortality rate begins to rise rapidly as women hit their fifties – after menopause, when their protective hormones, estrogen and progesterone, drain on go away.
It turns out, however, that women who take either the contraceptive pill or hormone replacement – both estrogen-containing – have a lower risk of having ends up in hospital and dies. In general, estrogen strengthens the immune system, while testosterone has an immune effect.
Like Caroline Criado Perez ‘s book Invisible women – reveals a data bias in a world designed for men, he says, gender blindness in medicine and fields like technology is just making out a “men-friendly” culture. There is a gender data gap here that is not only humble, but life threatening.
I have been captivated by the superpowers of estrogen during a search over the past year for an upcoming Channel 4 book and documentary about menopause. In addition to being a female sex hormone, estrogen does sterling work throughout the body and brain. It regulates immunity and inflammation, and a terrifying “cytokine storm,” which tears apart coronavirus patients in hospitals, is less severe in women than men.
Hormone replacement therapy is now coming in many forms. The latest body-like hormones are a major improvement over the early synthetic ones that made headlines scare the dangers of breast cancer. When using the latest transdermal estrogen HRT – gel or 4-pound-a-month patch – it has been shown to protect women from heart attacks, osteoporosis, diabetes, colon cancer and memory loss, as well as stop hot streams. Why not Covid-19 too?
The good news is that maybe. A recent study of more than 5,451 deaths in women from 465 GP practices in the Royal College of General Practitioners database showed that women who used any form of HRT were 78% less likely to die with Covid. Of course, there is some healthy bias for women who choose to take HRT, but that still has a strong protective effect.
In September, the Zoe Covid Symptom Study app showed that women on the contraceptive pill were less likely to catch the virus. Later, a TriNetX global database study from 17 countries showed that women taking HRT estrogen were 50% less likely to die from the virus.
The science of estrogen is not all there yet – we need more extensive studies as we follow the long journey from hospital to home patients with Covid. An online study of 1,294 women who suffered from Covid Prolonged Symptoms found that a majority reported that their times had changed and reported that their symptoms worsened before or during -their times when estrogen levels are at their lowest.
The Covid app found that Covid has long been particularly common in women between the ages of 50 and 60 and, in addition to respiratory problems, the rest of the symptoms reported in women outweigh the those at menopause – obesity, insomnia, cerebral palsy, joint pain and heart palpitations.
Dr Louise Newson, a menopause expert, said: “These symptoms tend to be associated with low estrogen and also testosterone levels in women, so the priority for getting the right dose and type of HRT should be considered. instead of those low hormone levels. . ”
To date, Newson and others have privately treated several menopausal patients with HRT, and their Covid symptoms have improved or disappeared. But there is no suggestion of hormonal help on the long Covid section of the NHS website.
NHS experts have long seen these latest academic papers about hormones, HRT and Covid, but so far they have not been named for further research – or therapeutic treatment with estrogen, a cheap drug we already know is safe. The NHS website on Covid has long information pages, but the recommended solution to obesity is “get a good night’s sleep”.
Science bends and accepts the news cycle: vaccine rules and doses change not always because of medical confirmation, but according to the pace of government. Research is rapidly advancing in these difficult times, so why was estrogen left behind? Any answers, gentlemen?
• Kate Muir ‘s book on menopause is published by Simon and Schuster this summer.