Anecdotal evidence suggests that COVID-19, caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, exhibits differences in morbidity and mortality between sexes. In this article, the authors 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. The authors concluded that an appreciation of how sex is influencing COVID-19 outcomes will have important implications for clinical management and mitigation strategies for this disease.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19741-6