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NSAIDs & Paracetamol: Why Are Younger People Getting Sicker in The US and Europe?
What is the explanation for the remarkable uptick in young people getting very sick as Covid-19 sweeps through Europe and the United States? There are a number of possibilities. It could be genetic, or it could have something to do with lifestyle choices such as smoking or vaping. The virus was recently reported to have mutated. However, there is a different option. A lifestyle-related option. This option is currently part of an intense political debate, and I’ve personally come under fire in the recent past for saying things very much like I will be saying in this piece. The question is too important to let go, though. Here is the question: What is the role of COX-2 inhibitors in the European and North American Covid-19 epidemic?
First, the high-level evidence: in China, where traditional medicine is typically a point of contention for Western scientists and even Chinese scientists to pick at when dealing with the sometimes strange ways of a civilization that has lasted millennia, NSAID usage is limited (I’ve looked and looked for sources here, but the paywalls are keeping me out. Please drop a line if you’ve got access to numbers on this). In Europe and the United States, NSAIDs are used to treat everything from pre-workout aches and pains to things such as the flu.
