40,000 coronavirus deaths in Argentina: the mystery of why men die more and some clues

In Argentina, by coronavirus, they died 40,009 people, according to the latest report. Statistics show that there is a 14 percentage point difference between male and female deaths (57% vs. 43%). In other words, men have a higher risk of dying from Covid than women. This difference occurs in everyone’s stats and seems to be a constant. However, the reasons behind this are not entirely clear.

Clarín talks with various infectologists to find out the explanation for this phenomenon. There are no concrete answers. Cristina Freuler, head of the internal medicine department of the German hospital, assures: “There is still no study that can tell exactly what is happening. Statistics confirm that it is. But the explanation still escapes us. In other diseases, hormones play a central role. But the same cannot be said to Covid. There are many other variables to consider. ”

He also explained that the knowledge would take a long time. “There must be a group of people who are dedicated to this and investigating the causes. Now, in the midst of the pandemic, where everyone is treating the patient, it will be hard to know.”

For her part, Miriam Bruno, head of infectology at Durand hospital, also believes that there is still not enough data to explain the reasons for this statistical difference. “There are many variations that should be investigated such as increased cardiovascular risk, among others. But that is not an analysis that can be done now. Because you have to have all the data, from a large number of people, now everyone is focused on stopping the pandemic. ”

However, studies have already been published that offer clues. A survey presented at the Conference on Coronavirus Disease (ECCVID) – the first online scientific congress dedicated exclusively to Covid-19 – confirms that men have worse outcomes than women if they are infected with a coronavirus. they have 62% more likely to die.

The cause, which requires future studies to support, may be related to the fact that men live higher levels of inflammation in all phases of the disease. The question of why this is happening has not been answered.

But so, according to this analysis, is that being a man is in itself an independent risk factor. Age and comorbidities do not matter.

The study was presented by clinical researcher Frank Hanses, University Hospital Regensburg, Germany, and states that “a growing body of evidence suggests a gender difference in SARS-CoV-2 infections which puts men at a higher risk of death. associated with COVID-19 “.

Hanses and his team evaluated retrospectively 3,129 adult patients registered between March and July 2020 in the Lean European Open Survey on SARS-CoV-2-Infected Patients (LEOSS), a huge international database funded by the German Society for Infectious Diseases (DGI) to provide science with reliable clinical data to answer some of the questions.

They also observed that admission to intensive care was more frequent in men than in women (30.6% versus 17.2%). Even hospitalizations were longer for men (15.4 versus 13.3 days).

“Men are more likely to progress to critical phases of the coronavirus. They have higher death rates, as well as more frequent intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and longer hospital stays, all associated with higher inflammatory parameters than women during all phases of COVID-19 Hanses explained in the study’s conclusions.

PS