France recorded until Wednesday evening 1331 deaths linked to the coronavirus. Deaths recorded in hospitals, which now affect the whole of France and which doctors note that they are, for a large majority of them, linked to comorbidities: disorders or pathologies already present in patients, such as cancer, diabetes or hypertension.
According to data collected by Santé Publique France from regional health agencies (ARS), since the beginning of March, we have also noticed that, among these victims of Covid-19, the majority are men. Data that could well evolve.
To date, the Ministry of Health only takes into account deaths recorded in hospital establishments. However, with 21 residents dead in the Vosges, 17 in the Doubs or 16 in Paris, nursing homes and other residences for the elderly are also largely affected by this epidemic. And as INSEE revealed in 2015, the population of these homes for the elderly is 75% female.
Almost 58% of male victims
When studying the data on hospital deaths, recorded between March 1 and 23, 2020, or 847 victims, we see that 497 (57.8%) are men. A figure that does not reflect the structure of the population since, according to the last census of the INED (national institute of demographic studies), on January 1, 2020, men represent only 48.3% of the French.
These overall data differ from the typical profile in Italy, revealed last week by the Higher Institute of Health (ISS): out of 2,000 Italian victims, 70% are men, aged 79 years on average.
This information for France and Italy also corresponds to observations made in China. According to Chinese government data, cited in the medical journal The Lancet by three researchers who focused on the impact of the virus on the sexes, it affects more men, in a proportion of 106 per 100 women.
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In early March, when France was barely affected by the epidemic, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention also pointed out in a study that the mortality rate linked to Covid-19 would be higher in men (2 , 8%) than among women (1.7%).
11% women in Normandy, 62% in New Aquitaine
Another lesson concerning France: the share of deaths by sex varies from region to region. In the Grand Est, which is by far the area most affected by Covid-19, of the 323 people who died, 44% are women. While they represent only 35% of the 192 deaths in Île-de-France (68 out of 124).
Conversely, the proportion of women is higher in New Aquitaine (8 of the 13 deaths recorded), Corsica (four of the seven deaths) and in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (eleven of the 20 deaths).
It is in Normandy that the percentage of deceased women is the lowest, with only one death out of the nine identified (11%), as well as in the Pays de la Loire (out of the nine victims, two are women) and in Center-val-de-Loire (two of the eight deaths).
Fewer women died in Paris
In the Haut-Rhin, the department with the highest number of contaminations, as well as victims of the coronavirus, 68 of the 157 deaths recorded on March 23 were women. In Paris, one of the other main centers of contamination, this proportion is much lower since a third of the deaths concern women.
This same distribution of deaths between the sexes can be observed more or less in other Ile-de-France departments such as Val-d'Oise, Hauts-de-Seine, Essonne and Seine-et-Marne. In Seine-Saint-Denis, in Val-de-Marne and in Yvelines, the number of deaths of men and women is almost similar.
In addition to the 1,331 deaths linked to the virus on March 25, 2020, the French Ministry of Health counted on Wednesday evening 2,827 people placed in intensive care after having contracted Covid-19. Of which only 30% are women.
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