Sex-specific difference of in-hospital mortality from COVID-19 in South Korea
Ae‐Young Her, Youngjune Bhak, Eun Jung Jun, Song Lin Yuan, Scot Garg, Semin Lee, Jong Bhak, Eun‐Seok Shin
Abstract
We sought to assess the impact of sex on in-hospital mortality of patients with COVID-19 infection in South Korea. The study recruited 5,628 prospective consecutive patients who were hospitalized in South Korea with COVID-19 infection, and enrolled in the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) dataset between January 20, 2020, and April 30, 2020. The primary endpoint was in-hospital death from COVID-19. The cohort comprised of 3,308 women (59%) and 2,320 men (41%). In-hospital death was significantly lower in women than men (3.5% vs. 5.5%, hazard ratio (HR): 0.61; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.47 to 0.79, p <0.001). Results were consistent after multivariable regression (HR: 0.59; 95% CI: 0.41 to 0.85, p = 0.023) and propensity score matching (HR: 0.51; 95% CI: 0.30 to 0.86, p = 0.012). In South Korea, women had a significantly lower risk of in-hospital death amongst those patients hospitalized with COVID-19 infection.