Cited by 617COVID-19 epidemiological studiesCOVID-19 Clinical Research StudiesSARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research

COVID-19 mortality risk for older men and women

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Yanez, N. David, Weiss, Noel S., Romand, Jacques-André, Treggiari, Miriam M.·2020·BMC Public Health

Abstract

Background: Case-fatality from COVID-19 has been reported to be relatively high in patients age 65 years or older. We sought to determine the age-specific rates of COVID-19 mortality at the population level. Methods: We obtained information regarding the total number of COVID-19 reported deaths for six consecutive weeks beginning at the 50th recorded death, among 16 countries that reported a relatively high number of COVID-19 cases as of April 12, 2020. We performed an ecological study to model COVID-19 mortality rates per week by age group (54 years or younger, 55–64 years, and 65 years or older) and sex using a Poisson mixed effects regression model. Results: Over the six-week period of data, there were 178,568 COVID-19 deaths from a total population of approximately 2.4 billion people. Age and sex were associated with COVID-19 mortality. Compared with individuals ages 54 years or younger, the incident rate ratio (IRR) was 8.1, indicating that the mortality rate of COVID-19 was 8.1 times higher (95%CI = 7.7, 8.5) among those 55 to 64 years, and more than 62 times higher (IRR = 62.1; 95%CI = 59.7, 64.7) among those ages 65 or older. Mortality rates from COVID-19 were 77% higher in men than in women (IRR = 1.77, 95%CI = 1.74, 1.79). Conclusions: In the 16 countries examined, persons age 65 years or older had strikingly higher COVID-19 mortality rates compared to younger individuals, and men had a higher risk of COVID-19 death than women.

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Authors
Yanez, N. D., Weiss, N. S., Romand, J.-A., & Treggiari, M. M.
Affiliations
  • Yale University (US)
  • University of Washington (US)
  • Canton of Geneva (CH)
Corresponding author
Yanez, N. David
Venue
BMC Public Health
Published
2020-11-19
Volume
20
Issue
1
Pages
1742-1742
ISSN
1471-2458 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3104041940
Cited by
616
References
13
Citations by year
2026: 17 · 2025: 37 · 2024: 98 · 2023: 113 · 2022: 191 · 2021: 155 · 2020: 5
FWCI
18.48
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • BMC Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (UL1TR001863)
  • National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Modeling and Simulation › COVID-19 epidemiological studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic, COVID-19 mortality, age-specific mortality, sex differences, older adults, men, case fatality
MeSH terms
COVID-19, Aged, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Mortality, Pneumonia, Viral, Risk, Global Health, Age Distribution, Sex Distribution, Coronavirus Infections, Pandemics

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