Mystery prevails. Why does the coronavirus continue to kill men more?



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Meinitially the trend ‘sexist‘the new coronavirus He was seen in China, the country where the outbreak began. However, then it also began to be noticeable in countries such as France, Germany, Iran, Italy, South Korea and Spain, according to a report by the BBC.

Although several studies have been carried out since the beginning of pandemic To unravel this mystery, the truth is that the scientific community is still not sure why it happens.

However, and in accordance with BBC, most researchers believe that this may be due not only to a single factor but there is a combination of various elements that make women more immune to Covid-19 and that includes biology, lifestyle and behavior.

The question of lifestyle.

In China, preliminary studies have clearly shown that men not only had an increased risk of being infected as well as dying victims of the new coronavirus.

A study with 99 patients in a hospital in the city of Wuhan, where pandemic originated, found that two thirds of the patients were men and more than half of the hospitalized people had chronic pathologies such as heart disease or diabetes

The latest data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, based on tens of thousands of cases, revealed that 64% of deaths from Covid-19 are men.

The most likely cause, then, would have to do with lifestyle. Throughout the world, men tend to drink and smoke more than women, and therefore become more susceptible to develop lung diseases and heart diseasethan weakens if they stay infected with the SarscoV-two.

And the truth is, the numbers supported this inference: 48% of Chinese men over the age of 15 smoke, compared to just 2% of women, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)

A study of 1,099 patients in China with Covid-19, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, revealed that 26% of those who needed intensive care or ended up dying were smokers.

In addition, we highlight the factor Behavior Research suggests that men wash their hands less than women, tend to use less soap, in addition to not seeing the doctor as often and ignoring alerts from health authorities.

In South Korea, for example, although women represent 61% of confirmed cases, 54% of those killed are men.

In Italy, seven out of ten. deaths for Covid-19 are male patients, although 28% of men and 19% of women smoke.

And in Spain, the number of men killed is double that of women.

Biological differences

On the other hand, studies have already shown that women generally have a stronger immune system than men and therefore dribble. infections more easily

“We are becoming increasingly aware that there are substantial gender differences in the immune response to a variety of infections and that women generally respond more strongly and aggressively“he says to the BBC Philip Goulderteacher Immunology at Oxford University in the UK.

According to a recent study published in the scientific journal Human Genomics, the X chromosome contains a large number of genes related to immunity and, since women have two (men only have one), their bodies are better prepared to fight diseases.

Research has also found that the estrogen, a much more prevalent sex hormone in women, protects women from mice infected by the virus SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome), caused by another type of coronavirus and responsible for an outbreak in 2003.

However, despite mounting evidence, scientists agree that more data is needed to discern why more men than women die with Covid-19.

Global Health 50/50, a research institute linked to University College London in the UK, recently analyzed publicly available data from 20 countries with the highest number of confirmed cases of coronavirus until 20 of March. Of these 20 countries, only six had data by gender for both confirmed cases and deaths: China, France, Germany, Italy, Iran, and South Korea. Another seven only for the number of confirmed cases.

“When we look at the data for these countries, the death rate for men from Covid-19 may exceed that of women in a range that varies from 10% to 90%, “reports Sarah Hawkes, professor of world public health at University College London (UCL) in the United Kingdom CNN.

Experts believe that if more countries had more detailed information by gender, governments could rely on this data to formulate public policies to combat new coronavirus.

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