In N.Y.C., the Coronavirus Is Killing Men Twice as Often as Women

The health department, which updates its website daily, had recorded 68,776 Covid-19 cases in the city as of Monday, including 15,333 patients who had been hospitalized and 2,738 deaths. Both death and hospitalization rates increased with age, rising drastically at age 65 and again at age 75.

While there were 712 cases per 100,000 women in the city, there were 932 cases for every 100,000 men. Men were also more likely than women to be hospitalized: 228.7 admissions for every 100,000 men, compared with 140.3 admissions for every 100,000 women. (The figures are crude rates and have not been adjusted for differences in age or other characteristics.)

But the greatest sex disparity is seen in death rates: 42.9 deaths per 100,000 men, compared with 23.1 deaths per 100,000 women.

“More than two-thirds of the intubated patients are men,” said Dr. Joseph Lowy, a palliative care and hospice doctor at N.Y.U. Langone Health, referring to patients on ventilators.

“I know of no other disease that has that type of predilection for one gender over another,” excluding diseases of the reproductive system, he added.

Dr. Jennifer Lighter, an infectious disease specialist at N.Y.U. Langone, said that a statistical analysis of Covid-19 patients in the hospital system did not find a higher death rate among male patients.

[Like the Science Times page on Facebook. | Sign up for the Science Times newsletter.]

But when death rates were adjusted for age and obesity, both of which are higher over all in female patients, the case fatality rate among infected men is higher.

source: nytimes.com