Men with heart failure appear to have higher concentrations of a protein in their blood which enables the new coronavirus to infect healthy cells, scientists have said.
Their findings are based on patients in their 60s and 70s from 11 European countries. The researchers measured the concentrations of the protein, known as ACE2, in participants' plasma, which is the liquid part of blood.
They believe their results may help to explain why men with heart failure are more likely to die after contracting Covid-19 than women.
Dr Iziah Sama, from University Medical Centre Groningen in The Netherlands, and first author of the study, said: "When we found that one of the strongest biomarkers, ACE2, was much higher in men than in women, I realised