Age-dependent Gender Differences in COVID-19 in Mainland China: Comparative Study.
Clin Infect Dis
; 71(9): 2488-2494, 2020 12 03.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-430202
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The ongoing pandemic of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is challenging the global public health system. Sex differences in infectious diseases are a common but neglected problem.METHODS:
We used the national surveillance database of COVID-19 in mainland China to compare gender differences in attack rate (AR), proportion of severe and critical cases (PSCC), and case fatality rate (CFR) in relation to age, affected province, and onset-to-diagnosis interval.RESULTS:
The overall AR was significantly higher in females than in males (63.9 vs 60.5 per 1 million persons; P Ë .001). In contrast, PSCC and CFR were significantly lower among females (16.9% and 4.0%) than among males (19.5% and 7.2%), with odds ratios of 0.87 and 0.57, respectively (both P Ë .001). The female-to-male differences were age dependent, and were significant among people aged 50-69 years for AR and in patients aged 30 years or older for both PSCC and CFR (all P ≤ .001). The AR, PSCC, and CFR varied greatly from province to province. However, female-to-male differences in AR, PSCC, and CFR were significant in the epicenter, Hubei province, where 82.2% confirmed cases and 97.4% deaths occurred. After adjusting for age, affected province, and onset-to-diagnosis interval, the female-to-male difference in AR, PSCC, and CFR remained significant in multivariate logistic regression analyses.CONCLUSIONS:
We elucidate an age-dependent gender dimorphism for COVID-19, in which females have higher susceptibility but lower severity and fatality. Further epidemiological and biological investigations are required to better understand the sex-specific differences for effective interventions.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Sex Factors
/
Population Surveillance
/
Age Factors
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Clin Infect Dis
Journal subject:
Communicable Diseases
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Cid
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