https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3074168/women-more-likely-survive-coronavirus-china-studies-find
Women more likely to survive coronavirus in China, studies find
But frontline female medical workers also report more symptoms of anxiety and depression, researchers say
Men suffer more physical effects, accounting for 70 per cent of death toll in one survey
"Women may be more likely to survive the deadly coronavirus, but they also appear to be more likely to have depression, anxiety and insomnia as they assume most of the burden of caring for patients, Chinese researchers have found.
The virus has caused less serious symptoms and lower mortality in women compared to men, according to two research papers by doctors working in the central Chinese city of Wuhan…yet to be peer reviewed. In one study of more than 1,000 patients …researchers found that men suffered more severe effects and were more likely to die, accounting for 70 per cent of the death toll, according to a study published on Thursday on medRxiv.org…“more likely to affect older males with comorbidities, and can result in severe and even fatal respiratory diseases”, the paper said… written by researchers from Wuhan Union Hospital and Beijing Tongren Hospital, who were sent by the central government to Hubei province to help control the epidemic.
An earlier study of 47 patients with coronavirus-induced severe pneumonia found that male patients were more likely to have prior lung disease, develop secondary infections, require complex treatments and experience worse outcomes.
During one two-week period, men accounted for over 83 per cent of those whose condition deteriorated from severe to critical. At the same time, men represented just 20 per cent of those released from hospital, according to the study posted on the same website on February 27.
A similar gender difference was reported during the 2002-03 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) but not with influenza, the researchers said.
…third study suggests that this year’s coronavirus epidemic has taken a heavier toll on the mental health of women caring for patients…Women respondents were 2.4 per cent more likely to report anxiety, 6.7 per cent more likely to say they were depressed and 4.4 per cent more likely to say they had insomnia than men. The survey was conducted last month and has been submitted to international medical journal The Lancet for peer review.
…more than 42,000 medical workers from across the country have been dispatched to the province {Hubei] so far. The NHC said about 28,000 of them were women."
Italian officials have confirmed the same - preponderance of fatalities among men.
