Gender Differences in COVID-19 Deceased Cases in Jahrom City, South of Iran.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical and epidemiological features of deceased patients and comparing the discrepancies between male and female patients based on high prevalence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), its irreversible effects and the rising ‎mortality rate in Jahrom city.

Methods: This is a descriptive-analytical retrospective study that was conducted from the beginning of March 2020 to the end of November 2020. The study population were included all patients with COVID-19 who admitted to Peymaniyeh Hospital in Jahrom and died of COVID-19. Clinical and demographic data were collected from medical records and analyzed by SPSS software.

Results: In this study, 61 patients (57.54%) were men and 45 patients (42.36%) were women. The mean age was 68.7±18.33 in men and 68.82±14.24 in women. The mean hospitalization length was 9.69±7.75 days in men and 9.69±7.75 days in women patients. There was no statistically significant difference between men and women patients (p>0.05). The results showed that 17 (27.87%) men and 28 (45.9%) of women patients had hypertension and the prevalence of this disease was significantly higher in women than men (p=0.01). In this study, 7 (11.48%) men and 13 (21.31%) women had hyperlipidemia. The frequency of hyperlipidemia in women cases was significantly higher than in men patients (p=0.024). Men cases' diastolic blood pressure (mean=77.53) was significantly higher than women's diastolic blood pressure at the same time with a mean of 71.42 (p<0.05).

Conclusion: The findings of the study represented the mortality rate in men which is higher than women patients. The prevalence of underlying diseases such as hypertension and hyperlipidemia were higher in women than men. Despite higher mortality among women, symptoms such as fever and dyspnea were less common in women than men.