As of June 22nd 2020, there are 8.92 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 of which 4.41 million have recovered and 467K have passed away. The number of people who died from the disease however, is not equally divided between men and women. According to a study published in Front. Public Health, the number of men who died from COVID-19 is 2.4 times that of women. A similar gender mortality trend was also observed in SARS patients in which the percentage of males in the deceased group was higher than in the survived group. Additionally, the severity of the disease is also felt more by men than by women and they are at risk for worse outcomes. The article suggests a correlation with shorter life expectancy of men that is normally seen.
Women’s Health Research at Yale is attempting to determine the reasons behind this gender based mortality. One of the ideas suggested by them has to do with the X chromosome. It is known that women have a more robust immune response than men which can be attributed to the presence of two instead of one X chromosomes. This is because they have genes which can enhance the expression of key immune functions. Another possible mechanism involves the female hormones, progesterone and estrogen which can help reduce the inflammation associated with the disease because of its anti-inflammatory properties.
Other possible reasons of higher morbidity and mortality in males can be associated to the social determinants of health since men typically have a higher blood pressure, there is a higher incidence of obesity or that men tend to smoke more.
It is not yet entirely clear which of the above factors or if all of them play a slight but significant role in these observed gender based differences. More research is being done to determine the exact mechanism.
By: Sanya Bansal