Characterization of Clinical Features of Hospitalized Patients Due to the SARS-CoV-2 Infection in the Absence of Comorbidities Regarding Sex: An Epidemiological Study of the First Year of the Pandemic in Brazil
July 2022
in “
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
”
TLDR Males had more severe COVID-19 symptoms, but their risk of death was only slightly higher than females.
This epidemiological study analyzed 336,463 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Brazil, focusing on the impact of sex on disease severity and outcomes. It found that male patients, who comprised 213,151 of the study population, exhibited more severe clinical signs such as fever, low oxygen saturation, and dyspnea, and required more intensive care and ventilatory support compared to females. Despite these severe symptoms, the male sex was only slightly associated with an increased risk of death. The study identified other significant predictors of mortality, including older age, race, specific clinical signs, and the need for intensive care and ventilatory support, which had a greater effect on the risk of death than sex. Overall, while males showed a higher severity of COVID-19, their increased risk of death was minimal.
