Chennai: A recent study has deciphered the causes behind Covid’s seemingly low death risk among women.
Published in Lancet Healthy Longevity, the research has found that metformin—a common, generic type two diabetes medication used to manage blood sugar levels—is associated with significantly lower Covid-19 death risk.
However, the study also found that while the risk of death from Covid-19 is lower for women taking metformin, the result was not so in men.
Metformin not only manages blood sugar levels in patients, but also reduces inflammation proteins like TNF-alpha that appear to make Covid-19 worse. People with diabetes have been observed to be vulnerable to greater risk of intensive care unit admission, intubation for mechanical ventilation, and death, possibly related to less effective glycemic, or blood sugar, control in these patients, the study said.
The researchers analysed over 6,000 people with type 2 diabetes or obesity who were hospitalised with Covid-19 from January to early June this year. They found an association that women with diabetes or obesity, who were hospitalised for Covid-19 disease and who had filled a 90-day metformin prescription before hospitalisation, had a 21 to 24 percent reduced likelihood of mortality compared to similar women not taking the medication. There was no significant reduction in mortality among men.
The team said that the analysis supports the “preventive use of metformin, before infection with SARS-CoV-2, to prevent severe Covid-19 in patients with diabetes or obesity”.
The study was conducted at the University of Minnesota Medical School and UnitedHealth Group, US.