Male sex identified by global COVID-19 meta-analysis as a risk factor for death and ITU admission
Hannah Peckham, Nina M. de Gruijter, Charles Raine, Anna Radziszewska, Coziana Ciurtin, Lucy R. Wedderburn, Elizabeth C. Rosser, Kate Webb, Claire T. Deakin
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.