Texas research finds men more likely to get, die from COVID-19

Men are more likely to contract and die from COVID-19, according to a new analysis of about 100,000 cases handled by Houston Methodist Hospital last year.

The recently published peerreviewed study also found men were more likely to experience complications from the virus, which has killed more than 400,000 Americans.

Researchers analyzed 96,000 patients tested at Houston Methodist between March and August of last year, of which about 15 percent ultimately tested positive for the virus.

While similar research has been published in China and Europe, the report’s authors said theirs is the first to examine a major metropolitan area in the U.S.

“It has kind of confirmed the preliminary or non-U.S. reports that have been out there: that males are affected more and males tend to have poorer outcomes,” said Farhaan Vahidy, a Houston Methodist researcher who led the study.

After adjusting for demographic factors and comorbidities, researchers found 11.6 percent of men died in hospitals because of the virus, compared with 8.3 percent of women.

Men also required stays in the intensive care unit or mechanical ventilation at higher rates than women — 34.1 percent, compared with 27.6 percent.

The findings come as hospitals across the nation fill with a new wave of COVID-19 patients and amid a vaccine rollout that has been lackluster in many parts of the country.

Public health experts worry the gender disparities could have long-term consequences as well for men, particularly those who lack access to proper health care.

Those numbers are reflected in statewide data as well: As of Friday, nearly two-thirds of Texas’ confirmed cases have been men, as have 58 percent of the 33,700 people who have died of the virus, the Texas Department of State Health Services says.

Research on other infectious diseases has shown men are more susceptible, which Vahidy and others say could be because men have only one X-chromosome.

“The biggest implication is that we still don’t know the longterm consequences of this pandemic,” he said. “That is definitely something to look out for and be sensitive of when we deal with patients.”

Men’s health experts have echoed those concerns.

Pharmacist Sal Giorgianni, an adviser for the Men’s Health Network, noted men also are disproportionately affected by other fatal diseases, a disparity that has been evident since the influenza pandemic of 1918.

“You have the direct effects of the virus and the indirect effects of economic downturn, stress and anxiety,” he said. “The underlying conditions that make one susceptible (to COVID-19 and other diseases) dominate in men.”

“The biggest implication is that we still don't know the long-term consequences of this pandemic. That is definitely something to look out for and be sensitive of when we deal with

patients.”

Farhaan Vahidy, a Houston Methodist researcher who led the study

Bob Owen / Staff photographer Nurses administer infusion treatment to patient David Sayari, center, on Dec. 10 in the tent unit at Covenant Hospital in Lubbock. A recent study found men were more likely to experience complications from the virus.