Open AccessSex differences in patients with COVID-19: a retrospective cohort study and meta-analysis
Author(s) -
Zhijun Li,
Lina Feng,
Wenyu Cui,
Jian Zhang,
Yingxin Huang,
Yi Zhao,
Fei Teng,
Donglin Wu,
Hui Wang,
Liquan Deng,
Qiong Yu
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
open access macedonian journal of medical sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.288
H-Index - 17
ISSN - 1857-9655
DOI - 10.3889/oamjms.2020.5380
Subject(s) - medicine , case fatality rate , meta analysis , incidence (geometry) , epidemiology , retrospective cohort study , covid-19 , mortality rate , cochrane library , cohort study , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , physics , optics
BACKGROUND: Accumulated evidence revealed that male was much more likely to higher severity and fatality by SARS-CoV-2 infection than female patients, but few studies and meta-analyses have evaluated the sex differences of the infection and progression of COVID-19 patients.
AIM: We aimed to compare the sex differences of the epidemiological and clinical characteristics in COVID-19 patients; and to perform a meta-analysis evaluating the severe rate, fatality rate, and the sex differences of the infection and disease progression in COVID-19 patients.
METHODS: We analyzed clinical data of patients in Changchun Infectious Hospital and Center, Changchun, Northeast China; and searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library without any language restrictions for published articles that reported the data of sex-disaggregated, number of severe, and death patients on the confirmed diagnosis of adult COVID-19 patients.
RESULTS: The pooled severe rate and fatality rate of COVID-19 were 22.7% and 10.7%. Male incidence in the retrospective study was 58.1%, and the pooled incidence in male was 54.7%.
CONCLUSION: The pooled severe rate in male and female of COVID-19 was 28.2% and 18.8%, the risky of severe and death was about 1.6folds higher in male compared with female, especially for older patients (> 50 y).