Coronavirus statistical update: male deaths are much higher, as are those of over 70s
As the coronavirus works its way towards peak effect, HOT is providing a regular update of the statistics for our region and the country provided by the public health authorities and other official sources. Further information on deaths was made available by the Office of National Statistics today, indicating a significant gender difference and a greater prevalence among people of 70 or over. Text by Russell Hall and Nick Terdre, charts by Russell Hall.
There were 3,912 deaths involving the coronavirus (Covid-19) in England and Wales; in March, the Office of National Statistics reported today. Of these, 3,372 (86%) had Covid-19 assigned as the underlying cause of death.
Some salient points emerge from the statistics, which cover the whole of March, though it is unlikely that the patterns for deaths in April differ significantly.
What perhaps is not widely realised is that men are much more likely to be victims of Covid-19 than women. The ONS chart shows that approximately twice as many men died in March as women – looking at the columns for deaths involving Covid-19 and due to Covid-19, the figure is around 100 per 100,000 of population for men and around 50 for women.
The ONS also provides a spreadsheet of numbers which paints a somewhat different picture – 2068 deaths of men against 1,304 of women, equivalent to 61% and 39% respectively.
That is still a significant difference, so what accounts for it? The ONS offers no explanation, but it has been said that women have a more efficient immune system than men – having two X chromosomes gives females an immune advantage over males.
The ONS figures also offer strong support for the observation that the older you are, the more likely you are to succumb to Covid-19. The bar chart below shows that over 70s accounted for just over 80% of all Covid-19 deaths in March. The numbers for males and females showed little difference. It is true that females of 90+ accounted for 20% of all deaths and males only some 12%, but that presumably reflects the fact that more women live to a ripe old age than men.
Another notable fact in the figures is that the death rate in Wales was much lower than in England: 44.5 per 100,000 of population compared with 69.7. Again the ONS offers no explanation, but this may be influenced by the greater proportion of people in England living in dense urban environments.
Meanwhile today’s figures from Public Health England show that the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in East Sussex rose by only 10. They now stand at 383, and in the last seven days have increased by only 67.
For the UK as a whole, 4,618 new cases were recorded yesterday, bringing the total to 103,093. Deaths in hospitals totalled 861, an increase of 100 on the previous day, and taking the cumulative total to 13,729.
Caveats
A number of caveats need to be borne in mind regarding the PHE statistics:
- Cumulative case numbers include people who have recovered.
- With respect to testing, cases are reported when lab tests are completed, which may be a few days after initial testing.
- Testing capacity is increasing, resulting in a greater number of observed cases.
- Testing capacity constraints mean there are likely many more cases than currently recorded here.
- Deathsrecorded by Public Health England include only those in hospital and exclude those in the community and care homes.
- There is a delay in many deaths being recorded from a few days to up to two weeks.
- Deaths tend to be recorded around three weeks after first symptoms in fatal cases.
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