| Title: | COVID-19 is an emergent disease of aging |
| Journal: | Aging Cell |
| Published: | 1 Oct 2020 |
| Pubmed: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33006233/ |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.13230 |
| Citations: | 130 (35 in last 2 years) as of 8 Aug 2024 |
Publication 4613
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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 known to preferentially target older subjects and those 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 all countries tested, 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 antiviral approaches, by approaches that target the aging process.</p>
16 Keywords
- Age Factors
- Aged
- Aging
- Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2
- Betacoronavirus
- COVID-19
- Coronavirus Infections
- Female
- Global Health
- Humans
- Male
- Pandemics
- Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A
- Pneumonia, Viral
- SARS-CoV-2
- Sex Factors
10 Authors
- Didac Santesmasses
- José Pedro Castro
- Aleksandr A. Zenin
- Anastasia V. Shindyapina
- Maxim V. Gerashchenko
- Bohan Zhang
- Csaba Kerepesi
- Sun Hee Yim
- Peter O. Fedichev
- Vadim N. Gladyshev
Enabling scientific discoveries that improve human health