Abstract

Abstract Anecdotal evidence suggests that Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, exhibits differences in morbidity and mortality between sexes. Here, we present a meta-analysis of 3,111,714 reported global cases to demonstrate that, whilst there is no difference in the proportion of males and females with confirmed COVID-19, male patients have almost three times the odds of requiring intensive treatment unit (ITU) admission (OR = 2.84; 95% CI = 2.06, 3.92) and higher odds of death (OR = 1.39; 95% CI = 1.31, 1.47) compared to females. With few exceptions, the sex bias observed in COVID-19 is a worldwide phenomenon. An appreciation of how sex is influencing COVID-19 outcomes will have important implications for clinical management and mitigation strategies for this disease.

Keywords

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)Odds ratioOddsSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)2019-20 coronavirus outbreakMedicineMeta-analysisDiseaseIntensive care unitCoronavirusRisk factorInternal medicineInfectious disease (medical specialty)VirologyOutbreakLogistic regression

MeSH Terms

COVID-19FemaleHumansIntensive Care UnitsMaleMortalityPandemicsRisk FactorsSARS-CoV-2Sex Factors

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Publication Info

Year
2020
Type
review
Volume
11
Issue
1
Pages
6317-6317
Citations
1511
Access
Closed

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Cite This

Hannah Peckham, Nina M. de Gruijter, Charles Raine et al. (2020). Male sex identified by global COVID-19 meta-analysis as a risk factor for death and ITU admission. Nature Communications , 11 (1) , 6317-6317. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19741-6

Identifiers

DOI
10.1038/s41467-020-19741-6
PMID
33298944
PMCID
PMC7726563

Data Quality

Data completeness: 86%