Study Finds Differences Between Men and Women in Covid Levels

A new study has found differences in the level of Covid-19 antibodies according to gender, age, symptoms, and time elapsed since vaccination.

The research, based on 26,000 blood samples, was conducted jointly by scientists from Tel Aviv University and the Shamir Medical Center (Asaf Harofeh) and published in Medrxiv.

A difference was found between vaccinated women and men, in the concentration of antibodies in the blood relative to both age and gender. In women, the level of antibodies begins to rise from the age of 51, and is higher than the levels found in men of similar age. This phenomenon may be related change in hormonal levels observed around this age, which affects the immune system. In men, a rise in antibody levels is seen at an earlier age, starting around 35, also hormone-linked.

In young adults, a high concentration of antibodies is usually the result of a strong immune response, while in older people it typically indicates overreaction of the immune system associated with severe illness.

The study was conducted by Tel Aviv University’s Prof. Noam Shomron, Head of the Computational Genomics Laboratory at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine and a member of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Bioinformatics and Dr. Adina Bar Chaim from the Shamir Medical Center. The data were collected by Dr. Ramzia Abu Hamad from the Shamir Medical Center, and analysis was conducted by Guy Shapira, a PhD student at Prof. Shomron’s laboratory.