The new coronavirus is fatal to many patients, including the elderly and people with underlying diseases. From early on, epidemiologists have said that the new coronavirus kills more men than women, but there is no clear answer as to why this happens.
In this regard, CNN, in cooperation with Global Health 50/50, a research organization focusing on global gender inequality, hopes to solve this problem by analyzing new coronavirus data in several countries.
As of the current position, 6 countries including China, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, and South Korea among the top ten countries with total cases provided clear case and death data broken down by sex.
In each of these six countries, more men than women die of new coronavirus pneumonia, and in some countries more men than women.
Even so, there is no data on the proportion of men and women tested, which will be a key data point for the study, and the data provided by China only covers the period up to the end of February.
However, the available data show that men are at a higher risk of dying from new coronavirus pneumonia than women, and these data are similar to those given by SARS and MERS epidemic studies. The researchers found that in Hong Kong, China, men reported worse clinical SARS results; a study from South Korea and Saudi Arabia showed that men are at higher risk of dying from MERS than women.
The CNN report states that one reason men are at greater risk is that more men have unhealthy habits such as smoking and drinking than women.
Some researchers have said that women have a stronger immune response to viral infections than men, because they spend part of their lives with foreign bodies in their bodies, which gives them a survival advantage.
The report also states that hormonal changes may also be part of the balance. It is well known that hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and chronic lung disease increase the severity of the new coronavirus pneumonia, and these conditions are more common among men in the six countries studied, as well as globally.
Simply put, men are more likely to smoke and drink than women, and these unhealthy behaviors may be a risk factor for some of these diseases.
In addition, age is another additional factor to consider.
The exact answer on how the new coronavirus affects both sexes obviously needs more data, and scientists urge authorities to use the sophisticated technology available to report cases and include gender data in the reports.
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