Clinical and epidemiological characteristics and individual experiences of illness in men with COVID-19: mixed method study

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Since the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, studies have shown that this disease has affected the male population on a significant scale in various parts of the world, making men one of the main risk groups. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical and epidemiological characteristics and experiences of illness in men with COVID-19. DESIGN AND SETTING: A mixed sequential-explanatory study with cross-sectional and exploratory-descriptive approaches. METHOD: Data was collected from a small municipality located in the central-north region of the state of Bahia, Brazil. Primary quantitative data was extracted from compulsory notification forms from 598 men. Qualitative data from individual interviews of 30 men was analyzed by the Discourse of the Collective Subject method. RESULTS: The findings identified the characterization of reports of suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19 in men, the organization of the healthcare system, and strategies for the control and combat of COVID-19 directed towards the men of the investigated municipality. They revealed the clinical characteristics based on the collective discourse of men with COVID-19. CONCLUSION: In men, the individual experience of disease explicitly explains the clinical markers of COVID-19 expressed by the self-reported syndromic approach. Additionally, this understanding also explains the behaviors observed in their search for health care, as well as the adoption of prevention and control measures and therapies recommended by health professionals.

COVID-Inconfidentes - SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in two Brazilian urban areas in the fourth quarter 2020: study protocol and initial results

“…According to the literature, several factors can explain the differences found in SARS-CoV-2 infection rates between regions and distinct population groups, such as disparities in the stage of infections, low testing, and late detection of cases; divergence in the adoption of control strategies, such as restrictions on the movement of people, local sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics, and environmental and meteorological factors, such as humidity and air pollution (Copat et al, 2020;Guimarães-Ximenes-Neto et al, 2021;Boas et al, 2022).…”

“…Other difficulties related specifically to the disease include: the greater probability that only people with severe symptoms seek health care services and undergo diagnostic tests, the high percentage of infected people with mild symptoms or who are asymptomatic, and the social determination of the disease itself (Hallal, 2020;Li et al, 2020;Qiu, 2020;Boas et al, 2022). These factors can interfere with the dynamics of transmission, giving rise to underreporting, and the masking of the actual COVID-19 data.…”