More research must be conducted to look into the potential impact of sex, along with other demographic factors, on Covid-19 patients, writes former US Assistant Surgeon General Susan Blumenthal
Editor's note: Rear Adm. Susan Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.A. is the senior medical and policy adviser at amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research and a clinical professor at Tufts and Georgetown University Schools of Medicine.
Initially, the research community failed to recognize women as an important group to study. As a consequence, clinical trials of HIV/AIDS medications and preventive interventions excluded them. We continue to pay the price for this public health oversight: women now represent nearly 52% of people living with HIV globally. The disease disproportionately affects women of color: in 2018, 79% of new HIV diagnoses among women in America were racial and ethnic minorities.
When it comes to Covid-19, biological sex differences in the immune and endocrine systems may help explain the more severe cases and higher death rates in men. Sex chromosomes and hormones influence the immune response to microbes, and women in general mount stronger immune responses to infections and vaccinations.
While biology may be protective for women as a result of immunological or hormonal factors, they experience the devastating social and economic consequences of Covid-19 more acutely. A recent report indicates that women are 16% more likely than men to say that the pandemic has had a negative impact on their mental health.
What's more, the economic repercussions of the pandemic could have a lasting impact on women in the workforce and as caregivers. Our government must mobilize to respond to those hit hardest economically and focus efforts on getting women back to work safely with equal pay and hazard pay for essential workers.
In response to congressional oversight, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has now added racial/ethnic data by age where available from the states. However, it should be noted that this important racial data is missing for 64% of reported cases. The CDC is not yet including side-by-side data on these three key demographic factors for comparison. Additionally, there is an alarming omission of biological sex in the key chart of demographic factors.
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