- Men have greater increases in skin temperature, respiratory rate, and heart rate
- This could be the reason why 100,000 more men died from Covid than women in the US.
- READ MORE: A 62-year-old German claims to have received 217 Covid injections
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Men and women experience different symptoms when infected with Covid, study suggests.
Researchers studied dozens of people before, during and after contracting the virus, measuring multiple vital health signs using a wearable medical device.
The results showed that the men’s skin temperature became warmer, their heart rate increased more and their breathing accelerated.
Researchers aren’t sure exactly why this happened, but suggested it could be due to a stronger white blood cell response in women compared to male Covid patients.
During the pandemic, more men were hospitalized and died with the virus than women.
The researchers suggested that sex-specific responses to Covid may be related to the higher mortality and hospitalization rates seen in male Covid patients.
Men had greater increases in skin temperature, respiratory rate, and heart rate than women, as well as greater decreases in heart rate variability in men compared to women during the symptomatic period. The men’s respiratory and heart rates also remained at significantly higher levels during the recovery period compared to their female peers.
As of September 2023, some 629,728 men had died from Covid in the US compared to 517,046 women.
Researchers at the Private University of the Principality of Liechtenstein collected data on 1,163 people who used the Ava wearable medical device, an FDA-approved, wrist-worn tracker primarily used to track women’s fertility.
More than 1.5 million hours of physiological data were recorded and analyzed during the study period between 2020 and 2021.
During that time, 127 participants tested positive for Covid.
Around 82 Covid patients had data of sufficient quality from the Ava app to be included in the analysis: 56 women and 26 men.
In addition to the observed increases, the data also showed that male participants’ breathing and heart rate remained at significantly higher levels during the recovery period compared to their female peers.
The researchers also observed a greater decrease in heart rate variability among men compared to women during a Covid infection, meaning there was less variation in the time between each heartbeat.
Low heart rate variability can be a sign of current or future health problems because it shows that your body is not adapting well to changes.
Independent research has shown that women more often experience persistent symptoms such as shortness of breath and fatigue several months after the acute phase of the disease.
While the study controlled for BMI, age, hypertension, and alcohol and drug use, it could not take into account hormonal changes throughout the menstrual cycle among participating women, which could have affected the results.
The study was published in the journal PLUS ONE.