Gender-Based Differences in Outcome in Patients With Sepsis

Abstract
SEPSIS REMAINS a primary cause of morbidity and mortality in hospitalized patients. Among many factors postulated to affect outcome in sepsis is the gender of the patient. Females have a more active humoral and cell-mediated response than males.1,2 In 1898, Calzolari et al3 showed that adult male rabbits developed increased thymic mass after castration. In more recent studies,4 castrated animals developed thymic hypertrophy and splenic enlargement, the latter largely caused by expansion of the B-cell population.