Zhenzhen Zheng1, Yuanming Zhou2, Xishi Sun3, Zhiqiang Wang4, Chaoyu Wang5, Jiangpeng Lin6, Ziyi Wang7, Yanhong Liu5, Xiaojuan Chen4, Nanhong Li8, Yu Zeng9, Riken Chen10. 1. Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang, Guangdong 424000, China. 2. Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Guangzhou Eighth People's Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510000, China. 3. Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang, Guangdong 424000, China; The Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang, Guangdong 424000, China. 4. Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Panyu Maternal And Child Care Service Centre Of Guangzhou, Guangzhou, Guangdong 511400, China. 5. Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Taishan Hospital Of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jiangmen, Guangdong 529030, China. 6. Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510120, China; First Clinical School, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510120, China. 7. Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510120, China. 8. The Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang, Guangdong 424000, China. 9. Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang, Guangdong 424000, China. Electronic address: 775758583@qq.com. 10. Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510120, China. Electronic address: chenriken@126.com.
To the Editor:We have read with great interest of the article by Minhas et al. [1], in which indicates adjusted odds of myocardial injury, ischemic stroke and all-cause mortality are significantly higher in men compared to women with COVID-19.Higher inflammatory markers are present in men but associated similarly with risk in both men and women, suggesting that adverse cardiovascular outcomes in men vs. women are independent of cardiovascular comorbidities.This finding is important, previous studies suggest men have consistently higher mortality from COVID-19 compared to women and this sex difference in mortality may be related to greater underlying comorbidities in men, such as cardiovascular disease (CVD), which have been linked to increased severity of COVID-19 [2,3]. Therefore, these cannot explain the various changes in the severity of the illness. There is also a genetic factor that cannot be ignored. Based on the difference in severity, researchers found 4 sites related to the susceptibility and 9 sites related to the severity of COVID-19.The identified chromosomal loci include some genes that have been found to be associated with autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases, or lung diseases in past studies. For example, a variant of DPP9 will increase the risk of severe COVID-19, while the same variant will also increase the risk of lung disease characterized by scarring of lung tissue. Another genomic mutation in the OAS gene causes a decrease in the OAS1 enzyme in the blood. OAS1 can digest viral RNA, and a decrease in OAS1 increases the risk of infection, hospitalization, and critical illness [4]. Currently, pharmaceutical company is conducting research and development work on OAS [5].
Funding sources
The work was supported by the Science and Technology Planning Project of Panyu District, Guangzhou (No.2020-Z04-102).
Author contributors
All authors contributed to the writing, review and approval of the final copy of the manuscript.
Authors: Anum S Minhas; Julie K Shade; Sung-Min Cho; Erin D Michos; Thomas Metkus; Nisha A Gilotra; Garima Sharma; Natalia Trayanova; Allison G Hays Journal: Int J Cardiol Date: 2021-05-08 Impact factor: 4.164
Authors: Mohamed O Mohamed; Chris P Gale; Evangelos Kontopantelis; Tim Doran; Mark de Belder; Miqdad Asaria; Thomas Luscher; Jianhua Wu; Muhammad Rashid; Courtney Stephenson; Tom Denwood; Chris Roebuck; John Deanfield; Mamas A Mamas Journal: Mayo Clin Proc Date: 2020-07-23 Impact factor: 7.616