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COVID-19 is an emergent disease of aging (preprint)
medrxiv; 2020.
Preprint
in English
| medRxiv | ID: ppzbmed-10.1101.2020.04.15.20060095
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 is an ongoing pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that poses one of the greatest challenges to public health in recent years. SARS-CoV-2 is highly contagious and often leads to severe viral pneumonia with respiratory failure and death in the elderly and subjects with pre-existing conditions, but the reason for this age dependence is unclear. Here, we found that the case fatality rate for COVID-19 grows exponentially with age in Italy, Spain, South Korea, and China, with the doubling time approaching that of all-cause human mortality. In addition, men and those with multiple age-related diseases are characterized by increased mortality. Moreover, similar mortality patterns were found for all-cause pneumonia. We further report that the gene expression of ACE2, the SARS-CoV-2 receptor, grows in the lung with age, except for subjects on a ventilator. Together, our findings establish COVID-19 as an emergent disease of aging, and age and age-related diseases as its major risk factors. In turn, this suggests that COVID-19, and deadly respiratory diseases in general, may be targeted, in addition to therapeutic approaches that affect specific pathways, by approaches that target the aging process.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Preprints
Database:
medRxiv
Main subject:
Pneumonia
/
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Respiratory Insufficiency
/
Respiratory Tract Diseases
/
Death
/
COVID-19
Language:
English
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Preprint
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