Men are at higher risk of serious illness than women, but their vaccination coverage is lower.
A joint study by HUS, the University of Helsinki and the University of Umeå showed that the estrogen supplement halved the risk of coronary death. The mortality rate for women receiving the estrogen supplement was 2.1 percent, compared with 4.6 percent for the women in the control group.
– Our study does not yet lead to a change in treatment practices, so estrogen therapy should not be started or estrogen-lowering medication should be discontinued based on this study. The best way to protect yourself against severe coronary heart disease is vaccination, says HUS professor of surgery and chief physician Malin Sund in the bulletin. (switch to another service)
The study compared the mortality of women diagnosed with coronary disease at the beginning of the pandemic with the effect of estrogen on mortality.
The study, which covered the entire Swedish population, included just under 15,000 women aged 50 to 80 who were diagnosed with coronary heart disease between February and September 2020.
The 2,500 women in the study had estrogen replacement therapy for menopausal symptoms, and about 200 women received estrogen-lowering medication after cancer treatment.
There were 12,000 women in the control group who did not receive estrogen-increasing or estrogen-lowering medication.
The group receiving estrogen-lowering therapy had the highest risk of death. However, a causal relationship to estrogen could not be established as patients in this group were older than the control group and had received cancer treatment. Age and cancer treatments increase the risk of serious coronary heart disease and death.
The study was conducted before coronary vaccines were available. Thus, it is not yet possible to deduce from the study how much estrogen reduces the risk of serious illness and death among vaccinated women.
Men at higher risk of serious illness and death
The HUS explored why men have a significantly higher risk of developing and dying from serious coronavirus disease than women.
In June 2021, a digitally published registry study by Infectious Diseases included 5,500 coronary patients treated at HUS from February to June 2020.
Both sexes had the same number of coronavirus infections in the HUS area, but more men than women ended up in hospital.
Of the men treated in the hospital, 27 percent needed intensive care, while 17 percent of the women needed it. Men were also in intensive care for longer than women. By 90 days of treatment, 15 percent of male patients and 8 percent of women had died of coronary heart disease.
Men had less asthma and hypothyroidism than women, but more coronary heart disease. At the onset of corona symptoms, the men had subsequently sought the test and treatment of the women. However, none of these differences explained the gender differences in the severity of coronary heart disease.
The study found that gender is an independent risk factor for severe coronary heart disease and coronary mortality.
– The fact that there were as many women and men as there were in the first corona wave, but clearly more men in intensive care, we did not find any explanatory factor in our study other than gender, says the chief infectious disease doctor. Asko Järvinen About HUS.
Järvinen is concerned about men because their vaccine coverage is lower than women.