WOMEN FARING BETTER THAN MEN
WASHINGTON: Older people remain most at risk of dying as the new coronavirus continues its rampage around the globe, but they’re far from the only ones vulnerable. One of many mysteries: men seem to be faring worse than women.
Perhaps the gender imbalance shouldn’t be a surprise: during previous outbreaks of SARS and MERS —cousins to Covid-19 — scientists noticed men seemed more susceptible than women.
SARS is the severe acute respiratory syndrome; MERS, the Middle East respiratory syndrome; and Covid-19, the coronavirus disease 2019.
This time around, slightly more than half of the Covid-19 deaths in China were among men. Other parts of Asia saw similar numbers. Then Europe, too, spotted what Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus coordinator, labeled a concerning trend.
In Italy, where men so far make up 58 percent of infections, male deaths are outpacing female deaths and the increased risk starts at age 50, according to a report from Italy’s Covid-19 surveillance group.
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hasn’t yet released details. But one report about the first nearly 200 British patients admitted to critical care found about two-thirds was male.
One suspect: Globally, men are more likely to have smoked more heavily and for longer periods than women. The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control is urging research into smoking’s connection to Covid-19.
Hormones may play a role, too. In 2017, University of Iowa researchers infected mice with SARS and, just like what had happened in people, males were more likely to die. Estrogen seemed protective — when their ovaries were removed, deaths among female mice jumped, the team reported in the JournalofImmunology.
As cases skyrocket in the US and Europe, it’s becoming more clear that how healthy you were before the pandemic began plays a key role in how you fare regardless of how old you are.
The majority of people who get Covid-19 have mild or moderate symptoms. But “majority” doesn’t mean “all,” and that raises an important question: Who should worry most? While it will be months before scientists have enough data to say for sure who is most at risk and why, preliminary numbers from early cases around the world are starting to offer hints.
Senior citizens undoubtedly are the hardest hit by Covid-19. In China, 80 percent of deaths were among people in their 60s or older, and that general trend is playing out elsewhere.
The graying of the population means some countries face particular risk. Italy has the world’s second oldest population after Japan. While death rates fluctuate wildly early in an outbreak, Italy has reported more than 80 percent of deaths so far were among those 70 or older.
But, “the idea that this is purely a disease that causes death in older people we need to be very, very careful with,” Dr. Mike Ryan, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) emergencies chief, warned.
As much as 10 percent to 15 percent of people under 50 have moderate to severe infection, he said.
Even if they survive, the middle-aged can spend weeks in the hospital. In France, more than half of the first 300 people admitted to intensive care units were under 60.
“Young people are not invincible,”WHO’s Maria Van Kerkhove said.
Italy reported that a quarter of its cases so far were among people aged 19 to 50. In Spain, a third are under age 44. In the US, the CDC’s first snapshot of cases found 29 percent were ages 20 to 44.
Then there’s the puzzle of children, who have made up a small fraction of the world’s case counts to date. But while most appear only mildly ill, in the journal Pediatrics researchers traced 2,100 infected children in China and noted one death, a 14-year- old, and that nearly 6 percent were seriously ill.
Preexisting health problems also can increase risk of infection, such as people who have weak immune systems including from cancer treatment.