Since the start of the pandemic, men are more at risk of dying from Covid-19 than women, but this excess mortality is declining, according to an INED publication published March 24, 2022. In the question, the authors point, in particular, to vaccination. coverage, which, oddly enough, is higher among men.
Excess male deaths from Covid-19 have declined in 18 months of the pandemic
In the spring of 2020, a 60-year-old man was 2.2 times more likely to die from Covid-19 than a woman of the same age. A significant estimate, even taking into account the usual excess male mortality. With the exception of Covid,in France, at any age, a man has a higher risk of dying within a year than a woman of the same age“, – the message says. Double the risk at 40 years old, as at 70 years old. Corn “after age 50, this excess mortality exceeds the excess mortality from all causessays Frans Mesle, director of research at the National Institute for Demographic Research (INED) and co-author of the INED report. This result, which she considers surprising, pushes her, along with the second co-author of the report, Gilles Pison, to investigate further. “We then realized that in France this excess mortality declined at the start of the second half of 2021, with the data covering the period up to the end of September 2021.“. On this date, a 60-year-old man had this time 1.8 times more risk of dying from Covid-19 than a woman of the same age.
Vaccination coverage for men is higher than for women
How to explain that at the end of the summer of 2021, the risk of excess mortality among men decreased? Two experts review vaccination data cross-referenced by sex and age. “This data was not public, our colleagues from CNAM had to extract it especially for us.“, says Frans Mesle. Data that is needed in the context of their analysis, since the majority of the French population received their first two doses of the vaccine in the summer of 2021.”This is the period when vaccination began to show its effects.confirms the demographer, who is convinced that vaccine coverage for older men will be worse than for women. “In the social sciences, we know that women tend to be more health conscious and engage in less risky behaviors than men, such as smoking, drinking alcohol, or driving fast.”, justifies Frans Mesle. So one would expect, she adds, that they get vaccinated more often. However, this is not what was observed in the study.
It should be recognized that in terms of the number of individuals, women are vaccinated more than men.
Since the start of the pandemic, men are more at risk of dying from Covid-19 than women, but this excess mortality is declining, according to an INED publication published March 24, 2022. In the question, the authors point, in particular, to vaccination. coverage, which, oddly enough, is higher among men.
Excess male deaths from Covid-19 have declined in 18 months of the pandemic
In the spring of 2020, a 60-year-old man was 2.2 times more likely to die from Covid-19 than a woman of the same age. A significant estimate, even taking into account the usual excess male mortality. With the exception of Covid,in France, at any age, a man has a higher risk of dying within a year than a woman of the same age“, – the message says. The risk doubles in 40 years, as in 70. Corn “after age 50, this excess mortality exceeds the excess mortality from all causessays Frans Mesle, director of research at the National Institute for Demographic Research (INED) and co-author of the INED report. This result, which she considers surprising, pushes her, along with the second co-author of the report, Gilles Pison, to investigate further. “We then realized that in France this excess mortality declined at the start of the second half of 2021, with the data covering the period up to the end of September 2021.“. On this date, a 60-year-old man had this time 1.8 times more risk of dying from Covid-19 than a woman of the same age.
Vaccination coverage for men is higher than for women
How to explain that at the end of the summer of 2021, the risk of excess mortality among men decreased? Two experts review vaccination data cross-referenced by sex and age. “This data was not public, our colleagues from CNAM had to extract it especially for us.“, says Frans Mesle. Data that is needed in the context of their analysis, since the majority of the French population received their first two doses of the vaccine in the summer of 2021.”This is the period when vaccination began to show its effects.confirms the demographer, who is convinced that vaccine coverage for older men will be worse than for women. “In the social sciences, we know that women tend to be more health conscious and engage in less risky behaviors than men, such as smoking, drinking alcohol, or driving fast.”, justifies Frans Mesle. So one would expect, she adds, that they get vaccinated more often. However, this is not what was observed in the study.
It should be recognized that in terms of the number of individuals, women are vaccinated more than men. But these numbers are misleading because the older population, the most vaccinated, is also predominantly female. On the other hand, vaccination coverage, that is, the proportion of those vaccinated, is higher among men.”any age over 25“, – notes Frans Mesle. At the age of 70, more than 10% of women are not vaccinated compared to less than 8% of men. The difference thatplaying on the sidelinesadmits the demographer, but this partly explains this decline in excess male mortality between early 2020 and late summer 2021. However, this better male vaccination coverage is so counterintuitive that it needs to be explained. If there is currently no certainty, three hypotheses are invoked.
Three hypotheses explaining the relative reluctance of women to be vaccinated
- Firstly, men are more susceptible to comorbidities (diabetes, hypertension, etc.), which increase the risk of death from Covid-19. For the same reason, they are more likely to die when they are affected, even when examining the very nature of their immune response. Thus, men were likely to be more affected by vaccination campaigns that were especially targeted at people at risk.
- The second hypothesis could be that women are more suspicious of the Covid-19 vaccine. This is also the conclusion of a French study of over 85,000 respondents published in early 2022 in PLoS One. “Our analysis revealed gender reluctance for vaccination in general, but even more so for Covid-19 vaccination.“, in particular, concludes the study. Only 54% of women were in favor of vaccination against Covid-19 compared to 68% of men. For researchers, it is possible that this is due to greater fear of fertility risks for persons of childbearing age, or their having a different education than men, more often in charge of family and child health, they will be more suspicious, in general, of mRNA vaccines perceived as new technology.
- Finally, it could be that men tended to be more motivated to resume their lives outside the home by requiring a vaccination pass. Most likely, this gender imbalance is due to a combination of these three hypotheses. “Often the answer is a combination of factors that accumulate”, supported by Frans Mesle.
France average
Be that as it may, France is far from an isolated case. The excess male mortality observed in our territory is “average“. For example, Italy and Spain show an even greater imbalance, with the risk of dying from Covid-19 multiplied by 2.8 and 2.7, respectively, for 65-year-old men compared to women of the same age. On the other hand, the United States and England-Wales are lower, with risk multiplied by 1.7 and 1.9 respectively for the same age group.
Even more surprisingly, the evolution of excess mortality in England and Wales does not follow the evolution in France: it does not fall. “Perhaps this is due to a different vaccination policy?‘ asks Frans Mesle. That’s what she’s trying to figure out now drawing on Ined’s extensive database of Covid-19 deaths, and trying to match local vaccination data by age and sex.