Menopause and COVID-19

POST-MENOPAUSAL WOMEN are at greater risk from COVID-19 than younger women, and the culprit may be reduced estrogen.

Women infected with the virus that causes COVID generally have milder symptoms than men – that is, as long as they are still menstruating.

Researchers think it’s because estrogen helps protect the lungs and other organs from damage wrought by COVID. But with menopause comes reduced estrogen and possibly weakened protection.

In a non peer-reviewed study published in August, researchers from King’s College London found postmenopausal women were 22 per cent more likely to report symptoms of COVID than pre-menopausal women. They were also more likely to develop severe complications.

The study used data from more than 500,000 women in the United Kingdom who used the COVID Symptom Study app to report symptoms of the virus.

If a lack of estrogen increases a woman’s

COVID risk, does hormone replacement therapy reduce it? The King’s College researchers found it impossible to untangle the effects of various HRT dosages, delivery methods and durations.

There may be reason to be cautious about HRT if you have COVID. That’s because COVID can sometimes cause clots in blood vessels, and HRT can elevate a woman’s risk of developing clots.

In the United States, researchers are launching clinical trials to see if giving men and older women estrogen might reduce COVID symptoms. “Although the jury is still out, it would not be recommended to stop hormone therapy,” says Dr. Alison Shea, an obstetrician and gynecologist at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and McMaster University. “There is more risk in stopping and then restarting in terms of coagulation and cardiovascular effects.”