More than 70% of patients with coronavirus admitted to critical care are men, according to new data.
The figures come from the UK’s Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNARC) and were based on a sample of 7,542 critically-ill patients confirmed as having Covid-19. Researchers found that 5,389 of these patients were men and 2,149 were women.
The report, published on Friday, also found that men were more likely to die in intensive care, with 51% dying compared to about 43% of the women who were admitted.
The report analysed data on patients with confirmed Covid-19 from 286 NHS critical care units in England, Wales and Northern Ireland taking part in the ICNARC programme up to 4pm on Thursday.
The new data echoes comments of a leading expert who said that Covid-19 was just as deadly as Ebola for people admitted to hospital in the UK.
Prof Calum Semple from the University of Liverpool, a consultant respiratory paediatrician at Alder Hey children’s hospital and chief investigator on a study published on Wednesday, said the data highlighted the danger of coronavirus.
Research by Semple and his team found that of the total number of coronavirus patients admitted to hospital, 17% required admission to high dependency or intensive care units and of these, 31% were discharged alive, 45% died and 24% continued to be treated in hospital.
Semple explained: “Some people persist in believing that Covid-19 is no worse than a bad dose of flu.
“They are gravely mistaken. Despite the best supportive care that we can provide, the crude case fatality rate for people who are admitted to hospital – that is, the proportion of people ill enough to need hospital treatment who then die – with severe Covid-19 is 35 to 40%, which is similar to that for people admitted to hospital with Ebola. It’s a really nasty disease.”
The new ICNARC data also showed that around 56% of 60 to 69-year-olds, 67% of 70 to 79-year-olds, and 65% of people aged 80 and over admitted to critical care died there, compared to about 24% of people aged under 50.
It also found that about 26% of patients in critical care with Covid-19 were black or Asian, compared to 66% who were of white ethnicity.
A separate Institute for Fiscal Studies report found that per capita deaths among the black Caribbean population in English hospitals are three times those of white British people.
This follows a report from the Office for National Statistics which found people living in the most deprived areas of England have experienced coronavirus mortality rates more than double those living in the least deprived areas.
The ICNARC report also said that 25% of critical care coronavirus patients were from the most deprived quintile (fifth of the population), compared to 14.5% who were in the least deprived one.