Study shows that Covid-19 antibodies reduce faster in men than in women

This makes it clear that a single kind of vaccine will not be able to cure everyone

A recent study revealed that antibodies released against Covid-19 is reducing faster in men than in women – a major concern that comes in the way of developing a vaccine.

When it comes to medical research, men and women have always been grouped together and medicines that is said to agree with everyone were developed, despite various evidences showing that genders do play a part in how people catch and react to diseases. Covid-19 gets added to that list of diseases, which is showing that women have more chances of getting infected but men are said to have double the chances of dying from it.

A six-month evaluation

REUTERS/Thomas Peter

The study has yet to be peer-reviewed, and had only been tracked for six months on 308 staff members at the Strasbourg University hospital in France that had a confirmed Covid-positive test. Most patients in the study were mildly affected.

Various antibodies in the body were measured using three different tests at two points over a period of 172 days. During the first blood sampling session, men older than 50 and people with a body mass index (BMI) of more than 25 showed the highest antibody levels.

During the second test, antibody levels (including neutralising proteins that prevent the virus from making contact with human cells) reduced in men than in women, without regard to age and BMI.

Previous studies had shown that men have a higher response in antibodies than women in the acute phase, but that didn’t paint the full picture, since even if men have a higher response at the start, their antibodies fall much faster over time, while women can maintain their stability.

(Cover: Getty)