Newest Coronavirus Information
MONDAY, April 25, 2022 (HealthDay Information)
It is identified that sure persistent well being situations up the chances of demise from COVID-19. Now, new analysis identifies one other danger issue.
Shorter telomeres are related to an elevated chance of demise from COVID-19, significantly in older girls, researchers say.
Telomeres are protecting caps on the tip of chromosomes (DNA) that shorten with age. Earlier analysis has linked shorter telomeres with a number of age-related diseases, together with cancer and osteoarthritis, and the next danger of infections.
“Our findings implicate telomere size in COVID-19 mortality and spotlight its potential as a predictor of demise and extreme final result, significantly in older girls,” mentioned examine co-author Ana Virseda-Berdices, of Well being Institute Carlos III in Madrid, Spain.
Virseda-Berdices and colleagues examined how telomere size impacts COVID-19 severity. The examine included greater than 600 adults hospitalized with COVID throughout the first wave of the pandemic, March to September 2020. Telomere size was measured in affected person blood samples taken inside 20 days of COVID prognosis or hospitalization.
The 533 sufferers who survived had a mean age of 67, in contrast with a mean age of 78 among the many 75 sufferers who died from COVID.
Amongst all sufferers, shorter telomeres had been considerably related to the next danger demise from COVID-19 at 30 and 90 days after hospital discharge.
Additional analyses by age and gender confirmed that longer telomeres had been related to a 70% decrease danger of dying from COVID in all girls at 30 days, and a 76% diminished danger of dying from the illness at 90 days.
In girls 65 and older, longer telomeres had been related to a 78% decrease danger of demise from COVID-19 at 30 days, and 81% diminished danger at 90 days.
There have been no vital variations in telomere size between males who survived COVID-19 and those that died of the illness, in accordance with the examine.
The findings had been scheduled for presentation this week on the European Congress of Scientific Microbiology and Infectious Illnesses, in Lisbon, Portugal. The assembly ends Tuesday.
“Whereas we have no idea the explanations for the sturdy affiliation present in girls, it is attainable that the dearth of affiliation between telomere size and COVID-19 mortality in males might be as a consequence of elevated comorbidities and danger components in males that masked the impact,” Virseda-Berdices mentioned in a gathering information launch.
“Feminine sufferers are likely to current with much less extreme illness and usually tend to survive COVID-19, most likely as a consequence of fewer way of life danger components and comorbidities than males. In addition to aging, telomere dysfunction can be related to smoking, poor diet, larger physique mass index and different components that promote oxidative stress, persistent irritation and cancer,” Virseda-Berdices added.
The examine was observational and doesn’t show trigger and impact, the researchers famous. Analysis introduced at conferences is often thought of preliminary till revealed in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
Extra info
There’s extra on telomeres on the U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute.
SOURCE: European Congress of Scientific Microbiology and Infectious Illnesses, information launch, April 21, 2022
By Robert Preidt HealthDay Reporter
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