Single man, then the covid is more dangerous

Being single, low-educated, born in another country, and living in Stockholm significantly increased the risk of dying from covid-19 this spring.Image: Staffan Löwstedt / SvD / TT

Single men in Stockholm with low income and education are at higher risk of dying from COVID-19. Even if you were born in a country other than Sweden. All of these factors independently increase the risk of dying from covid-19.

All of these factors are individually associated with a much higher risk of dying from COVID-19, says Gunnar Andersson, professor of demography in the Department of Sociology at Stockholm University.

Together with, among others, Associate Professor Sven Drefahl, he has studied how the pandemic affected Sweden this spring. Using data on all registered COVID-19 deaths in Sweden up to May 7 and using various population registries, researchers have discovered whether, and if so, how, there were obvious differences regarding the risk of dying from COVID-19. infectious disease. .

Living in Stockholm During the current period it was associated with a 4.5 times higher risk of dying from covid-19, compared to the rest of the country.

– Not that surprising, because exposure to the virus was higher there, says Gunnar Andersson.

But the socioeconomic situation, that is, income and education, also had an important impact. The lower the socioeconomic status, the higher the death rate in covid-19. If he was also a man and not married, the risk increased even more.

– It is the same pattern that is observed in many other diseases, such as cancer or cardiovascular diseases. Not being married can be explained by selection and “protection.” It’s the healthy people who get married first, and as a married person you live a healthier and more orderly life with a partner who checks to see if you’re feeling bad, says Gunnar Andersson.

Be born in a country other than Sweden it was also a risk factor. Although the researchers took into account aspects such as income, housing situation and educational level, which surprised the researchers.

– Foreign-born people generally have lower death rates than people born in Sweden. There are many who do not believe it, but it is, says Gunnar Andersson.

According to the research, which is featured in Nature Communications, women from low- and middle-income countries in the Middle East and North Africa had a death rate twice as high, compared to people born in Sweden, while the increased risk was three times higher for men.

– But even those born in other European countries, including Finland, had a higher death rate. We don’t know exactly why this is, but our hypothesis is that foreign-born people have larger networks and are therefore exposed to a greater spread of infection, says Gunnar Andersson.

A study from Karolinska University Hospital also shows that people born in another country are more affected by the new coronavirus. The researchers looked at sampling for the coronavirus that occurred in all 2,682 women who gave birth in the hospital this spring and where a positive test result was more than twice as common among women born in Africa or the Middle East, compared to Nordic countries.