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. 2020 Apr 29:8:152.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00152. eCollection 2020.

Gender Differences in Patients With COVID-19: Focus on Severity and Mortality

Jian-Min Jin  1   2 , Peng Bai  1   2 , Wei He  3 , Fei Wu  2 , Xiao-Fang Liu  1 , De-Min Han  4 , Shi Liu  2 , Jin-Kui Yang  5
Affiliations

Gender Differences in Patients With COVID-19: Focus on Severity and Mortality

Jian-Min Jin et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Objective: The recent outbreak of Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) is reminiscent of the SARS outbreak in 2003. We aim to compare the severity and mortality between male and female patients with COVID-19 or SARS. Study Design and Setting: We extracted the data from: (1) a case series of 43 hospitalized patients we treated, (2) a public data set of the first 37 cases of patients who died of COVID-19 and 1,019 patients who survived in China, and (3) data of 524 patients with SARS, including 139 deaths, from Beijing in early 2003. Results: Older age and a high number of comorbidities were associated with higher severity and mortality in patients with both COVID-19 and SARS. Age was comparable between men and women in all data sets. In the case series, however, men's cases tended to be more serious than women's (P = 0.035). In the public data set, the number of men who died from COVID-19 is 2.4 times that of women (70.3 vs. 29.7%, P = 0.016). In SARS patients, the gender role in mortality was also observed. The percentage of males were higher in the deceased group than in the survived group (P = 0.015). Conclusion: While men and women have the same prevalence, men with COVID-19 are more at risk for worse outcomes and death, independent of age.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS; SARS-CoV-2; female; gender; male; morbidity; mortality.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Trend data of clinical classification of severity in a Case series of COVID-19. Numbers of cases of men or women in different clinical classes of severity. Chi-square (χ2) test for trend indicated that males tend to experience more serious cases of COVID-19 than females according to the clinical classification of severity including Mild+Moderate, Severe, and Critical.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Role of age and gender in morbidity and mortality in a Public data set of COVID-19. (A) The whole spectrum of age in patients who died from and survived COVID. (B) Comparation of age between males and females in both patients who died from and survived COVID. (C) Gender distribution in both patients who died from and survived COVID.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Role of age and gender in morbidity and mortality in a Cases series of SARS, in 2003. (A) The whole spectrum of age in patients who died from and survived SARS. (B) Comparation of age between males and females in both patients who died from and survived SARS. (C) Gender distribution in both patients who died from and survived SARS. (D) Survival analysis comparing mortality rates between male and female patients with SARS.
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Comment in

  • Why men's health?
    Carson CC. Carson CC. Postgrad Med. 2020 Dec;132(sup4):1-3. doi: 10.1080/00325481.2020.1805867. Epub 2020 Nov 6. Postgrad Med. 2020. PMID: 33156726 No abstract available.

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