Men are more likely to develop the novel lung disease Covid-19 - and they also die more often as a result of the infection. Scientists are researching the phenomenon.
- The rapid spread of the coronavirus pandemic is ongoing: more than 1,350,500 cases have been reported to date.
- When analyzing the mortality rates, it is striking that, at 1.8 percent, Germany is far behind other countries such as Italy (12.5 percent) and Great Britain (10.3 percent).
- But in every coronavirus risk area, physicians are seeing that more men than women are affected by the novel lung disease Covid-19.
The coronavirus pandemic is a dominant media issue. Governments are trying to limit the negative economic consequences of the pandemic, virologists and other scientists are decoding the structure of the virus and developing drugs * and vaccines *. The new disease always raises new questions. A team of researchers from the United States is now looking at the fact that more men than women develop Covid-19 - and also die more often from coronavirus infection.
Coronavirus: Alcohol and smoking increase the risk of serious illness
" In Germany, 66 percent of the deceased are men, 34 percent are women . The infected are 52 percent male and 48 percent female. We have a higher mortality rate among men," quotes the Tagesschau Marcia Stefanick, professor of medicine at the Institute for Prevention Research at Stanford University in California.
The researcher blames various factors for this, especially smoking. " Smoking has a big impact because the coronavirus affects the airways. Men seem to smoke more often than women, " said Stefanick. With regard to smoking, the following applies: those who smoke are more susceptible to lung diseases such as lung cancer * and the more cigarettes a day, the higher the risk of developing the disease. Especially in China, where around ten times more men smoke than women, this certainly explains the significantly higher mortality rate among men. A similar picture emerges in Iran, South Korea and Italy. With regard to Italy, Professor Stefanick states: "According to statistics, there are seven million smokers and only 4.5 million smokers. Drinking alcohol obviously makes people who are corona infected more susceptible".
Also read : Coronavirus: smokers as a special risk group - this is what the expert recommends .
Less common severe Covid-19 courses in women due to better defense
In addition to a healthier lifestyle, genetic factors also influence the course of coronavirus infections *. Genetically, the immune system of women is more robust than that of men: "This means that they can be better vaccinated than men. The female sex also fights infectious diseases better, " says researcher Marcia Stefanick. As a result, around three times more men die of coronavirus infections worldwide than women. This is the conclusion reached by the University of Miami, which analyzed 4,789 medical records from Covid-19 patients.
The fact that women generally take better care of their health, eat healthier foods, and go to the doctor for preventive and early diagnosis examinations more regularly than men could also explain why they are less likely to develop severe Covid-19 history.
Sources : https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality; www.focus.de ; www.tagesschau.de
Read more : End of the Covid 19 pandemic finally in sight? Virologist with a positive prognosis.
jg
How dangerous is the e-cigarette?
To the photo gallery
* Merkur.de belongs to the Germany-wide Ippen-Digital editors network .
