Why Italy was hit so hard

[SDANation]

Fantastic article on why Italy has the highest mortality rate:

“According to Prof Walter Ricciardi, scientific adviser to Italy’s minister of health, the country’s mortality rate is far higher due to demographics - the nation has the second oldest population worldwide - and the manner in which hospitals record deaths. The age of our patients in hospitals is substantially older - the median is 67, while in China it was 46,” Prof Ricciardi says. “So essentially the age distribution of our patients is squeezed to an older age and this is substantial in increasing the lethality”

[link:http://www.google.com/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/have-many-coronavirus-patients-died-italy/amp/|

[BigmanPigman]

1. Why do men die twice as much as women?

[SDANation]

3. I don't know?

Maybe why women tend to live longer in general. Push off seeking medical care until it’s too late

[Strelnikov_]

6. My bet, smoking n/t

[KY_EnviroGuy]

8. Good article on some of the demographic issues seen to date....

The Covid-19 puzzles that scientists are still trying to answer

The Observer’s science editor looks at questions such as why the disease does appear not to infect children, and whether men are really more susceptible
Robin McKie
Sat 14 Mar 2020 14.30 GMT, Last modified on Wed 18 Mar 2020 10.55 GMT

Read it here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/14/answering-the-coronavirus-puzzles-baby-covid-19

(snip)

Again scientists find it difficult to find simple explanations. “It may be such individuals have other conditions that have not been recognised,” says Tom Wingfield, a clinician at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. “We know that people with hypertension are more likely to be diabetic and have impaired kidneys, for example. That could be a factor but the honest answer is that we just do not know at present.”

Other puzzles about the impact of Covid-19 have simpler explanations, however. For example, there is its tendency to kill men more often than women. The infection is fatal for 4.7% of men, but just 2.8 % of women, even though the gender balance for those testing positive is roughly 50:50.

Most experts say this is explained by the fact that in China smoking is primarily a male prerogative and this has weakened men’s respiratory systems and made them more vulnerable to Covid-19.

In other words, it's too early to really know. Detailed scientific studies will abound in the future.

KY......

[BigmanPigman]

9. I think they are still unsure why the "healthiest" group

(those in their 20s and 30s) died more than the old and young during the Spanish Flu. That was 100 years ago and we still don't know...

[KY_EnviroGuy]

10. Some of those things are due to genetic differences.

Weird genetic twists specific to certain populations can cause all sorts of issues with our health and most of them go unnoticed.

A bazaar one called G6PD literally killed my wife last year, as she had a deadly reaction to a series of drugs given her in the hospital for an otherwise routine kidney problem. We found out much too late that in Europe, she likely would have been tested for that oddity prior to giving her the drugs. Sadly, that's not the practice in the United States.

We still have much to learn in the field of medicine, if only free-market capitalism would only allow it.

[BigmanPigman]

13. That is so sad.

My dad died a year ago March 29th in his sleep and he had been as healthy as a horse, no heart problems, low blood pressure,... There is so much we do not know as far as health goes. We assume he just had a heart attack and died in his sleep like he always wanted. I miss him sooooooo much!

[KY_EnviroGuy]

14. Oddly enough...

A lady friend of ours damn near died from extremely low blood pressure that in the end was due to a serious bacterial infection cause by a faulty breast implant she had after a total mastectomy, post-cancer treatment. She had no idea there was any infection.

As you said, we have so much to learn but I'm so grateful for our doctors that try their best with what they have.....

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

17. I also think that the 1918 flu was so deadly in part because a lot of people

did not have running water where they lived, and would not have been able to wash their hands regularly.

Regular handwashing with soap and hot water is far and away the best public health measure ever.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

15. We do know why the young adults died more during the 1918 flu, and we've known for some years now.

Basically, the immune systems of healthy young adults grossly overreacted to the virus, causing what's called a cytokine storm, which completely overwhelmed everything and they died. I have oversimplified it, but look up cytokine storm. Pretty interesting stuff.

[BigmanPigman]

16. That is the same thing that a different DUer said happens when you get pregnant

on post #8.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213141580

I always learn so much on DU. Thanks!!!!!!

[meadowlander]

12. More likely to have underlying heart conditions?

Just speculating, but don't men tend to have heart attacks at an earlier age?

[Roland99]

2. That's true. HOWEVER, something else has resulted in many more deaths

The fact they weren't testing and properly distancing in social situations led to a MASSIVE spike in cases that caused hospitals to start rationing care, allowing elderly patients to just die while treating younger patients w/better odds at surviving

Guess what other nation hasn't been testing enough nor practicing social distancing properly?

[SDANation]

4. Trust me I know. I'm a nurse.

We weren’t testing potential covid, because of lack of kits spread across 5 hospitals

[KY_EnviroGuy]

5. Tourism was a big factor, too.

That and the close social relationships among families in Italy.

During my travels for work around the country, I had the pleasure of eating in a few great family-owned Italian restaurants and in many of them, then entire staff would set a huge table at dinner time and they would all sit down to eat together. There usually was a family matriarch at the head of the table.

Gave joy to my heart while away from home......

[Strelnikov_]

7. "The fact they're saving so many is a small miracle in itself."

“Doctors in Italy haven’t been dealing with one or two patients in care... but up to 1,200,” says Dr Mike Ryan, health emergencies programme executive director at the World Health Organization. “The fact they’re saving so many is a small miracle in itself.”

Heroic.