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The following is a summary of “COVID-19 increased existing gender mortality gaps in high-income more than middle-income countries,” published in the November 2024 issue of Infectious Disease by Beegle et al. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to analyze variations in excess mortality patterns by sex and age groups across countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and the association with country income levels.  

They employed the World Health Organization’s excess mortality estimates by sex and age group for 75 countries in 2020 and 62 countries in 2021, focusing solely on estimates derived from recorded all-cause mortality data. The Country-specific Poisson regressions were used to analyze patterns across countries, with observations representing the number of excess deaths categorized by sex and age group.  

The results showed that men exhibited higher mortality rates than women in nearly all regions and age groups beyond 45 years. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 heightened the gender mortality gap globally, with varying degrees across countries and income levels. In high-income countries, excess mortality rates were higher among men compared to women. Contrarily, in middle-income countries, the sex ratio of excess mortality mirrored the expected all-cause mortality sex ratio and, the exacerbation of the sex ratio of excess mortality observed in high-income countries during 2020 diminished in 2021.  

Investigators concluded the COVID-19 pandemic caused higher mortality in men than women, with gender differences varying by country income, driven by variations in infection rates and fatality, and that the gender gap in mortality decreased in high-income countries in 2021 due to faster vaccination rollout. 

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971224002388