The coronavirus is killing far more men than women

[Mosby]

With over 200,000 coronavirus cases worldwide and thousands of deaths, a striking pattern is appearing in the hardest-hit countries: More men are dying than women.

Nowhere is this trend more pronounced than in Italy. Men make up nearly 60 percent of people with confirmed cases of the virus and more than 70 percent of those who have died from covid-19, the illness caused by the virus, according to the country’s main public health research agency.

Figures from China’s Center for Disease Control, based on tens of thousands of cases, also showed a strong gender breakdown of deaths, which were 64 percent male and 36 percent female.

....

These statistics could be a product of behavior, biology, or both, scientists say.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/03/19/coronavirus-latest-news/#link-RJKBN23XCNFBJNHMNKY6Y27KAE

[4139]

1. Smoking might tip the balance

[spinbaby]

2. That seemed to be true in China

But I don’t know that Italian men also smoke more.

[4139]

3. The smoking prevalence overall was 23.5% (27.9% among males and 19.3% among females

Hardcore Smoking Among Italian Men and Women

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19337056/

Big difference between men and women

[GusBob]

4. Biology

A species needs to breed. Weed out the weaker males and less competition for food

[mvd]

5. Probably a combo of things

Males do smoke more overall. So some could be lifestyle. Some also could be biology in the way males have higher instances of heart disease and cancer and certain other conditions made worse by a virus that affects the respiratory system. The flu and cold are not like that.

[Blue_true]

6. I would guess that women, on average wash their hands more regularly. nt

[mvd]

7. Could be. I have always been ahead of many..

In washing hands a lot and using Purell. Now that Purell supplies are out here, I am worried.

[crickets]

8. K&R for visibility.

[Mosby]

9. Thanks! nt.

[Luz]

10. Maybe because the men put off seeking help?

[Mosby]

11. Another excerpt

.

..Men in Italy, China and Korea have a lower life expectancy than women, and are more likely to smoke and drink. Perhaps not coincidentally, men in these countries die more frequently from heart disease, respiratory disease and other illnesses that are thought to complicate coronavirus infections.

But there are also underlying biological differences between men and women that may make covid-19 worse in men, several researchers pointed out. Women generally have stronger immune systems than men and are better able to fend off infections. The X chromosome contains a large number of immune-related genes, and because women have two of them, they gain an advantage in fighting disease, according to a recent study in the journal Human Genomics.

Studies have also found that estrogen was protective in female mice infected with the virus that caused the 2003 SARs outbreak. During that epidemic, human men had a much higher case fatality rate than women.

[MisterProton]

12. Will especially hit China hard - given the one child policy they had.

One has to wonder how a culture of majority men are going to be affected.