Trends in Covid-19 hospital mortality in women and men

ABSTRACT

IntroductionIt remains unclear if the development of health services, clinical management, and scientific evidence, during the pandemic is associated with better medical outcomes, sustained in the long term, for Covid-19 patients of each gender. This study presents the trends in mortality associated with Covid-19 for women and men during the first year of the pandemic. MethodsThis study was based in 17 Spanish hospitals. Sociodemographic, clinical, and mortality data from all patients with Covid-19, who had been discharged alive, or had died after being admitted, between March 2020 and February 2021, were used. The association between time of admission and mortality was examined with multivariate logistic regression models. Results3390 Covid-19 patients were included in the study, of which 1330 were women, the age was M(SD) 66.55(16.55) Death was reported for 451 patients. There was a significant decreasing trend in mortality by time of admission for the whole year with an OR 0.86(0.77-0.96) p=0.005. No significant trend in mortality for women was observed OR 1.00(0.85-1.19) p=0.959, while there was a significant decreasing trend for men OR 0.78 (0.68-0.90) p=0.001 DiscussionThe health policies put in place, the scientific evidence developed by researchers, and the experienced acquired by clinicians, are likely to explain this improvement in mortality. More epidemiological and clinical studies addressing trends of mortality in patients with different sociodemographic and clinical profile and the improvement of clinical outcomes are required. Future research may address the safety and efficacy of interventions specifically in female patients.