Dr. Sarah Hyland, Daily US Times: The death toll from the coronavirus worldwide has risen to 2 million as of Saturday. One of the trends that the experts now speculate is that more men are dying than women. Statistics from each of the affected countries show that men are dying more than women everywhere.
According to WorldMeter 50-50 website, which provides hourly statistics on Covid-19 disease around the world, it is seen that in New York City, who have died since April 14, 62 percents are male. Even there were no symptoms of hypertension, diabetics, or heart disease in their body. In their case, 72 men are dying out of every 100 dead.
In China, almost twice as many women have died. 70 percent of all deaths in Italy are men. Even in countries like South Korea where women are more infected (61 percent), the death rate is higher than that of men, about 54 percent.
Why men are dying more?
Experts are puzzled as to why this trend is happening. “Frankly speaking, we can’t say exactly why Covid-19 is inflicting more men are dying than women. I can only say that being older also increases risk. Says Sabra Klein, a professor of public health at Johns Hopkins University in the United States.
Not only coronavirus, more epidemics have occurred in recent times (SARS, MARS), but it has also been shown that men are dying more likely to die from being infected. Researchers and physicians are giving some explanations as to why the coronavirus is doing this gender-inequality, but they are still common sense, not researched.
Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University in the United States, says census data from around the world also show that men’s health risks are relatively high. In many of the countries where the virus has been most prevalent (Italy, China, South Korea), women live longer than men. According to most experts, it is working behind the men’s lifestyle.
For example, discipline is lower in men’s lives than in women. They smoke more, drink more alcohol, and are more likely to suffer from heart disease, cancer, or diabetes, or pneumonia. As a result, they have a higher risk of dying from coronavirus, because those who already have another serious disease in their body, they are more likely to die in Covid-19.
According to a World Health Organization (WHO) statistics, in China, only 48 percent of obese people over the age of 15 smoke, while women make up only 2 percent.
Sex hormones are protecting women
In addition, many researchers say that some physiological differences between men and women may have worked behind it. Hormone differences may play a role. One after another study found that the ability of the immune system in the body of women is relatively high.
According to a study published in the journal Human Genomics of the Medical – there is a large number of genes inside the X chromosome in the body that increase the immune system.
The number of X chromosomes in a woman’s body is twice that of a man’s, so the woman’s body is stronger than a man’s in resisting infection.
The risk of heart disease is very low in women
Heart disease risk is very low in women up to a certain age. No 50-55-year-old woman is seen to have a stroke. But many younger men are having strokes. Until menopause, women are less likely to have a heart attack due to sex hormones. That’s why men are dying more during coronavirus pandemic.
Besides, when it comes to lifestyle, women smoke less and drink less. As a result, they are less likely to suffer from heart disease and hypertension naturally.
The same observation from the National Health Service (NHS) in England- men are dying because, men are more likely to have problems with heart disease or pneumonia, especially among men of South Asian and African descent.
Risks of sexism!
There is no difference between men and women in diabetes, but men are more likely to suffer from heart disease or high blood pressure. In Britain and the United States, why more blacks and other minorities are dying from the coronavirus – should be considered in addition to the risks of sexism.
In an editorial in the world-renowned medical journal Lancet, it is not yet clear whether the risk of coronavirus infection increases or decreases in gender, but it is now fairly clear that more men are dying in COVID 19.
Thus, the Lancet says, the differences in the response to the disease in gender should be taken into account in its treatment and vaccine research. “If the issue is ignored, the result will not be good.
