Though men and women are equally as likely to contract COVID-19, men are far more likely to die from it, according to a study published in Frontiers of Public Health.
Researchers examined a publicly available dataset on 1,056 COVID-19 patients in China.
They found that 70 percent of male COVID-19 died compared to 29.7 percent of women, making men 2.4 times more likely to die from the disease.
The researchers also examined a dataset of 524 patients with SARS from Beijing, China, in early 2003. The death rate was similarly higher among men than women.
"We recommend that additional supportive care and prompt access to the intensive care unit may be necessary for older male patients," said Dr. Jin-Kui Yang, a study author and physician at Beijing Tongren Hospital in China.
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