Why COVID-19 kills more men than women

Insight into the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic has shown that men are more at risk of dying from the virus than women, 1st News can authoritatively report.

Indeed, available statistics globally reveals that more men have died from COVID-19.

Furthermore, research shows that where an older man and woman get infected; there are higher likelihoods of the man dying. The foregoing trend has been observed by medical researchers worldwide.

Here in Nigeria, there is a glaring paucity of data on the gender distribution of COVID-19 related deaths. Nevertheless, a pattern of more males dying from the virus can still be ascertained. This can be seen from the more publicised cases of prominent Nigerians who have succumbed to the virus.

Among these are Abba Kyari, former Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari; former Oyo State governor, Sen. Abiola Ajimobi; erstwhile Ondo State Commissioner for Health, Wahab Adegbenro; Senator representing Lagos East, Bayo Osinowo and former Managing Director, Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC), Suleiman Achimugu.

Across Africa, the case remains the same. COVID-19 kills more men than women.

Among the prominent casualties are former Chairperson of Guinea’s election body, Amadou Salif Kebe; South African anti-apartheid hero, Benedict Somi Vilakazi; former Justice Minister of Somalia’s Hirshabella state, Khalif Mumin Tohon; renowned Ghanaian physician, Jacob Plange-Rhule; Egyptian rebel leader, Mahmud Jubril; Somali’s former Prime Minister, Nur Hussein; football executive and former President of Olympique Marseille, Pape Diouf; Congolese music star, Aurlus Mabele; former President of the Republic of Congo, Yhombi Opango and Cameroonian jazz legend, Manu Dibango, to mention a few.

Globally, the foregoing trend has also been proven to be the case.

An analysis of 5,700 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in New York City; showed that just over 60% were men, according to an April 22 study published in the journal JAMA. What’s more, “mortality rates were higher for male compared with female patients at every 10-year age interval older than 20 years,” the researchers wrote in the study.

Furthermore, of the 373 patients who ended up in intensive care units, 66.5% were men, the JAMA study reported. Also, when the WJEM editorial was published in early April; the authors noted that between 51% and 66.7% of hospitalized patients in Wuhan, China, were male; 58% in Italy were male; and 70% of all COVID-related deaths worldwide were male. In one large study of more than 44,600 people with COVID-19 in China, 2.8% of men died versus just 1.7% of women.

So, what is responsible for COVID-19 killing more men than women?

Researchers are still at a loss.

But some say it is possible that the sex hormones estrogen and testosterone play a role. This is according to previous research on respiratory illnesses. Other ongoing studies are looking at the X chromosome; (which women have two of, but men have only one) which has a larger number of immune-related genes; giving women a more robust immune system to fight off the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.

“Some of the underlying reasons why COVID-19 may be more deadly for men than women may include the fact that heart disease is more common in elderly men than in elderly women,” Dr. Stephen Berger, an infectious disease expert and co-founder of the Global Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology Network (GIDEON), told Healthline. “Studies also find that high blood pressure and liver disease are more prevalent in men and these all contribute to more negative outcomes with COVID-19.”

Also, a study published on May 10 reported that men men have higher concentrations of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in their blood than women. Since ACE2 enables the coronavirus to infect healthy cells; this may help to explain why men are more vulnerable to COVID-19 than women, the researchers reported.

The immune system may also be a factor, some researchers say.

“Genetics may also play a big role,” Berger said. “Women, because of their extra X chromosome, have a stronger immune system and response to infections than men.”

4WARDWEGO reports that the jury is still out on this.

However, researchers are hard at work, trying to get to the root of this phenomenon. An editorial published on April 10 in the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine (WJEM); says uncovering the real reason is imperative because it could help improve patient outcomes during an active public health crisis.