Anyone, no matter the age or gender, can catch Coronavirus, but age plays a major role in the probability of getting the virus or the probability of the virus being more severe. An older person has a higher chance of severe illness than a younger person. Many people know that age is a very important factor, but not many people know that gender also is a very important part. So why does gender determine if the illness is more severe?
Reports of this association
First, China reported that the death rate between men and women was 1.7%, for women, and 2.8%, for men. Data from the case in China also indicated that the risk of death for men was 2.4 times higher than for women. China wasn’t the only country that reported this difference. France, Germany, Iran, Italy, South Korea, UK, and the United States also reported this. The recent test that included 59,254 patients from about 61 studies, recorded that men suffered a higher mortality rate as well. In Italy, a survey’s data suggested that there was a 3:1 male to female ratio for SARS CoV-2 infection. The United States also reported this same difference since, in a New York study, 60.3% of inpatients were male. Also, mortality rates for men were always higher than women in all age groups older than 20 years; there was a 0 percent mortality rate for all genders under 20. Mortality rates for COVID-19 in eight countries, including Germany and Russia, have always been higher for men than women. Although, the incidence rate was not consistent among men and women in these eight countries.
Why does this phenomenon exist between gender and the coronavirus?
Comorbidities, the simultaneous presence of two chronic conditions in a patient, is the main cause of the sex difference. Comorbidities make up 71 percent of hospital admissions and diabetes and cardiovascular disease account for two-thirds of the COVID-19 ICU admissions; diabetes, hypertension, or cancer lead to play a significant role in the worse outcome.
Globally, males tend to have higher rates of comorbidities than females. Furthermore, older males are reported to have higher comorbidities than females and suffer a far worse outcome than females.
A difference in plasma ACE2 may be another reason. A study of 1485 men, and 537 women, found out that circulating levels of ACE2 in the plasma for men were higher than the levels tested in women. This test might not be the most accurate, since the population size of men and women tested were not nearly the same, but the increased levels lead to the severity of COVID-19 in men.
A major factor contributing to an association between coronavirus and gender is harmful behaviors. Men have been reported to be more likely to be active smokers. Active smoking raises the ACE2 “receptor expression in the lugs, which increases SARS-CoV-2 attachment and entry into alveolar epithelial cells”. Smoking also leads to comorbidities like hypertension and lung diseases. Even though there are reports that smoking leads to this situation, there needs to be further testing to confirm the effect of tobacco use on Covid-19.
Not all hope is lost since vaccines are beginning to be released. These vaccines will help in many ways like viral assembly or even hosting receptors. In the future, more tests are coming out that will try to associate this virus with new ideas like even prostate cancer since people with prostate cancer have a higher chance of having comorbidities. More tests are even researching and conducting trials that might conclude that males have a higher chance of being diagnosed with prostate cancer.