ReviewAging cell2015
How sex and age affect immune responses, susceptibility to infections, and response to vaccination.
Review in Aging cell, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 418 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
418 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 751 citations in OpenAlex.
- Rethinking immune studies: population-level immune variations and the path forward.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2026Pooled it
- Sex-based heterogeneity in response to first-line immunotherapy plus chemotherapy in advanced esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Pooled it
- Sex differences in bacterial meningitis and associations with socioeconomic indicators: a systematic review and meta-analysis with metaregression.BMJ global health · 2025Pooled it
- Sex differences in adverse events following seasonal influenza vaccines: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2023Pooled it
- Inflammatory cytokines and alcohol use disorder: systematic review and meta-analysis.Revista brasileira de psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999) · 2022Pooled it
- Baseline host determinants of robust human HIV-1 vaccine-induced immune responses: A meta-analysis of 26 vaccine regimens.EBioMedicine · 2022Pooled it
- Clinical manifestations of COVID-19 breakthrough infections: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of medical virology · 2022Pooled it
- HIV-1 envelope trimer vaccine induces sex-associated differences in antibody responses: a phase 1 clinical trial.Nature communications · 2025Trial
- Intermittent Fasting Regimes Reduce Gingival Inflammation: A Three-Arm Clinical Trial.Journal of clinical periodontology · 2025Trial
- Dynamic Shifts in Lymphocyte Subsets During the Menopausal Transition and Sexual Dimorphism in Immunosenescence.Immunity, inflammation and disease · 2026Article
- Predictive value of the 5-factor modified frailty index for pneumonia in older adults with cervical spinal cord injury.Spinal cord · 2026Article
- Comprehensive leucocyte subsets assay in healthy adults using multiparametric flowcytometry.The Indian journal of medical research · 2026Article
- Sex-Associated Effects of Thioredoxin Reductase Inhibition in Hyperoxia-Induced Lung Injury in Adult Mice.Metabolites · 2026Article
- Sex- and menopause-related differences in immune and gastrointestinal symptom architecture in ME/CFS: evidence from factor analysis and structural equation modeling.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Article
- [Impact of recipient age on outcomes of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: an analysis from the Chinese Bone Marrow Transplant Registry Group (CBMTRG)].Zhonghua xue ye xue za zhi = Zhonghua xueyexue zazhi · 2026Article
- Evaluation of post-vaccination flock immunity against Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) in small ruminants across selected districts of Borana zone, Southern Ethiopia.BMC veterinary research · 2026Article
- Evaluation of the platelet-to-white-cell ratio (PWR) as predictor of long-term all-cause mortality in patients with acute myocardial infarction.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Longitudinal study of the immunological response to the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in Instituto Português de Oncologia of Coimbra professionals.IJID regions · 2026Article
- Burden and Long-Term Trends of Viral Hepatitis in China: A National and Provincial Analysis.Current medical science · 2026Article
- Article
358 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Do men die young and sick, or do women live long and healthy? By trying to explain the sexual dimorphism in life expectancy, both biological and environmental aspects are presently being addressed. Besides age-related changes, both the immune and the endocrine system exhibit significant sex-specific differences. This review deals with the aging immune system and its interplay with sex steroid hormones. Together, they impact on the etiopathology of many infectious diseases, which are still the major causes of morbidity and mortality in people at old age. Among men, susceptibilities toward many infectious diseases and the corresponding mortality rates are higher. Responses to various types of vaccination are often higher among women thereby also mounting stronger humoral responses. Women appear immune-privileged. The major sex steroid hormones exhibit opposing effects on cells of both the adaptive and the innate immune system: estradiol being mainly enhancing, testosterone by and large suppressive. However, levels of sex hormones change with age. At menopause transition, dropping estradiol potentially enhances immunosenescence effects posing postmenopausal women at additional, yet specific risks. Conclusively during aging, interventions, which distinctively consider the changing level of individual hormones, shall provide potent options in maintaining optimal immune functions.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.