Women in Aragon were less treated and less well assisted in Covid

A study by the University of Zaragoza, with the participation of the IIS Aragón, reveals how gender inequality affected healthcare during the pandemic

Less diagnosed, less admitted to hospitals and less assisted in general. Being a woman in Aragon during the coronavirus pandemic It was a disadvantage when it came to receiving health care. The role of caregiver, greater longevity and greater institutionalization in women's residences were the perfect cocktail for inequality to prey on them in this period of uncertainty. This is demonstrated with data from an exhaustive work carried out by the Health Services Research Group of Aragon (Grissa) and which has had the participation of scientists from the University of Zaragoza and Aragon Health Research Institute (IIS Aragon).

A total of 390.000 people living in Aragon who tested positive for Covid in the public system have been the raw material for this study, which has covered from March 2020 to 2022, the key pandemic period. “Some data caught our attention and we began to study them,” says María José Rabanaque, an epidemiologist at Grissa. And the person in charge of the study, Isabel Aguilar, completes it: “We already knew that women are admitted less and their hospital stays are usually shorter, but we saw that In the pandemic, the differences widened".

And the data are clear. Among men who died within 30 days of being diagnosed, 77% had been admitted to hospital, while in the case of deceased women the percentage dropped to 69%, eight points less. Women also spent fewer days in hospital than men, and fewer were admitted to ICUs, with clear and greater differences in the first wave - 10,7% of men compared to 3,6% of women - which leads the researchers to a conclusion: “There are differences in the healthcare provided to men and women that have been reduced throughout the pandemic, but which persisted even after considering other factors such as age, the socioeconomic level of the patients or the place of residence and the existence of other pathologies”.

Under this statement are hidden several realities that, as Isabel Aguilar says, are “the perfect storm” for this to happen and “women are in a situation of greater vulnerability”On the one hand, they live longer, have lower income levels and suffer more illnesses. In addition, the study explains, they also end up living in nursing homes to a greater extent and suffer from illnesses such as dementia and depression associated with that age, and "all are factors that add up to being worse diagnosed and to go to or be taken to the hospital less often.” In addition, Aguilar explains, their role as caregivers must also be taken into account, which means that they “go to the doctor later.” “In fact, they put themselves last, which is why we often see many women who have been caring for their husbands due to any illness, and who die shortly after becoming widows,” says Rabanaque.

The icing on the cake of these behaviors are, according to these researchers, health protocols that apply equally to everyone when “Many symptoms are not the same in men and women”. Despite this, the same care and attention processes are deployed, confirms epidemiologist Rabanaque, among other things because there are no clinical guidelines “that explain these differences”. At the same time, “there is a lack of greater sensitivity in healthcare personnel”, adds Aguilar, “and structural changes to deal with these inequalities, but professionals are not aware of these differences and are not used to them”.

Are women more invisible and considered less important? According to this professional, “there is a different perception of risk, both in patients depending on whether they are men or women, in their environments and also in the professionals who assist them.” It is even detected in the prescription of drugs, he points out. In fact, the research group has now extended this work to other pathologies - with a database of 700.000 citizens and patients - and they are discovering that "this pattern of inequality is repeated even with identical protocols and the same pharmacological prescriptions."

For all this, the work concludes with a request: “If we want to reduce inequalities in health and health services, clear guidelines with a gender perspective are needed in the face of future pandemics”The researchers complain that “equality comes later to the health field” because although there is beginning to be a lot of clinical evidence, “there is still a lack of studies like this one that confirm the differences and, above all, that can be implemented in practice.” It is not just about women living longer, they insist, but “about ensuring that they do not live with a worse quality of life.”

Main Image: A woman is assisted by two health workers at the entrance to the Binéfar health centre in Aragon, in June 2020. EL PAÍS

Source: EL PAÍS