Females in India may have higher COVID-19 death risk than males: Study

While studies have shown that men are more prone to dying from COVID-19 than women globally, an analysis of case fatalities in India suggests that females may have a higher relative-risk of COVID-19 mortality in country.

Scientists, including Abhishek Kumar from Institute of Ecomic Growth in New Delhi, used crowdsourced data to provide early estimates for -sex specific COVID-19 case fatality rate (CFR) for India.

study, published in Journal of Global Health Science, presented an and sex specific view of mortality from disease using measure of CFR, which is ratio of confirmed deaths in total confirmed cases.

In research, scientists evaluated justed-CFR to capture potential mortality among currently active infections.

According to study, CFR among males is 2.9 per cent, while that for females it is 3.3 per cent in India.

researchers said as of May 20, 2020, males shared a higher burden (66 per cent) of COVID-19 infections than females (34 per cent) but infection is more or less evenly distributed in under-five as well as elderly groups.

Males are at a greater disvant than females, y said, ding that it is unclear wher males experience a higher risk of mortality throughout -spectrum, or if re are sex-related differences in survival risk.

"While males have a higher overall burden (66 per cent) of COVID-19 infections than females, infection is evenly distributed in under-five group and, to some extent, even among elderly groups (particularly 70+ years)," scientists wrote in study.

World Health Organization (WHO) world standard population structure standardized CFR for India is 3.34 per cent while justed-CFR is estimated to be 4.8 per cent, study ted.

While early evidence indicated that males have higher overall burden across world, females have a higher relative-risk of COVID-19 mortality in India, researchers said.

According to scientists, elderly males and females both display high mortality risk and require special care when infected.

Citing limitations of study, researchers said analysis is based on crowdsourced data with "considerable gaps in reporting of -sex specific information of all COVID-19 infections and deaths."

scientists said number of confirmed cases in India depends upon testing facility and capture of data on -sex specificities of COVID-19 cases, which y ded "has been inequate."

Based on results, researchers emphasised need for data collection and sharing of -sex specific COVID-19 cases and mortality data to develop robust estimates of COVID-19 case fatality to support policy decisions.