Recently, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention published in the Chinese Journal of Epidemiology a new research report on new coronary pneumonia, "Analysis of the Epidemiological Characteristics of New Coronavirus Pneumonia", which analyzed over 70,000 cases (including Confirmed, suspected, etc.), known as the largest epidemiological study of new coronary pneumonia to date, found that men seem to be more likely to be "successful" than women.

　　The report shows that, overall, the incidence of men is higher than that of women. Among the 44672 cases confirmed as of February 11, males accounted for 51.4% and females accounted for 48.6%.

What's more noteworthy is that the mortality rate of male patients is significantly higher than that of female patients. The report of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention pointed out that of the 1,023 deaths as of February 11, men accounted for 63.8% and women accounted for 36.2%. The crude case fatality rate is 2.8% for men and 1.7% for women.

In fact, similar phenomena occurred as early as the outbreak of SARS and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome). According to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in the United States, in 2003, the mortality rate of male patients infected with SARS in Hong Kong was 50% higher than that of female patients. In 2015, among male patients infected with MERS, deaths accounted for 32%, compared with 25.8% for females.

1 Male susceptibility to infection is actually related to this habit!

Why do men have a higher infection rate than women? Many studies at home and abroad have noticed a habit of men-smoking!

Recently, researchers from the University of South Carolina published an article on the academic preprint website medRxiv that the expression level of the ACE2 gene in the lung tissue of smokers was significantly higher than that of nonsmokers. According to previous studies, ACE2 may be a potential invasion receptor for the new coronavirus. This means that smokers may be more susceptible to the new coronavirus. The researchers used noncancerous normal lung tissue samples from 224 lung cancer patients to analyze their gene expression data and came to this conclusion.

In addition, the researchers also found that there were no significant differences in the expression level of the ACE2 gene in the lung tissues of people of different races, ages, and genders. The researchers suggest that smoking history should be considered when determining susceptible populations and standardized treatment plans.

　　Similarly, Chinese researchers have also found that old smokers may be more susceptible to the new coronavirus!

On February 5th, Li Guoping, director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Chengdu Respiratory Health Research Institute, Chengdu Third People’s Hospital, published an article on the preprint platform medRxiv, pointing out that in healthy people and patients with various diseases, angiotensin There is no significant difference in the expression of Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2), indicating that the population is generally susceptible, which is consistent with the results currently observed in clinical practice. But the point is, based on the upregulation of ACE2 expression among smokers! Therefore, the researchers concluded that longterm smokers may be susceptible to new coronavirus infection.

In 2015, the "2015 China Adult Tobacco Survey Report" issued by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention pointed out that China has 316 million smokers, the most in the world, accounting for nearly one third of the world’s smokers and 40% of global tobacco consumption. %. Half of Chinese men smoke, while the proportion of female smokers is only slightly higher than 2%.

Previously, Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organization’s Emergency Program, said that smoking may be a more reasonable explanation for the reason why the outbreak of new crown virus pneumonia in China has spread to more men.

2 Why smokers are more susceptible to chronic diseases and become susceptible to the new crown!

According to Zhi Xiuyi, director of the Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Capital Medical University and chief expert of Thoracic Surgery of Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, according to the current data and research results, chronic lung diseases, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes and other chronic diseases Patients and lung cancer patients are all highrisk groups of this new type of coronary pneumonia.

First, at present, chronic diseases such as chronic lung disease, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, etc. are all related to smoking. Smoking itself is a high risk factor for many chronic diseases. Many old smokers suffer from chronic lung diseases such as chronic bronchitis, chronic bronchitis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease due to longterm smoking. They are inherently weaker and have a significantly higher chance of suffering from any disease than non-smokers.

Second, judging from the patients who have been infected with the new type of coronary pneumonia, many of the severe and critical illnesses that have occurred during the evolution of the new type of coronary pneumonia are also combined with basic and chronic diseases related to "smoking" diseases, especially chronic diseases. Obstructive lung disease.

Third, from the information now released, the target organs of the new coronavirus attack are not only the lungs, but also the functional targets of multiple organs such as viral myocarditis and viral renal damage. Therefore, if you have a smoking-related disease and are an old smoker with a smoking index greater than 400, then you are virtually a high-risk susceptible group of new coronary pneumonia, and at the same time a high-risk group of severe and critical illness after the illness.

However, in the early stage of the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia, there were even rumors that "smoking can prevent the new coronavirus infection". In fact, studies have shown that tobacco contains more than 7,000 chemical substances, hundreds of which are toxic and dozens of carcinogenic. They can interfere with the normal operation of the lungs, destroy the lung defense system, and cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and other diseases. Not only does tobacco not help the respiratory tract, it can cause damage to the respiratory tract.

Finally, for smokers, quitting smoking early is also one of the ways to prevent new coronary pneumonia. The sooner you quit smoking, the better. Any age can benefit from quitting smoking!