Impact of gender on patients hospitalized for SARS-COV-2 infection: A prospective observational study

Biological sex could affect the natural history of SARS-CoV-2 infection. We enrolled all COVID-19 patients admitted to two COVID-19 hospitals in Milan in a prospective observational study. The primary outcome was death during the study period and the secondary outcome was critical disease at hospital admission. The association(s) between clinically relevant, non-collinear variables and the primary outcome was assessed with uni- and multivariable Logistic regression models. Five-hundred and twenty patients were hospitalized of whom 349 (67%) were males with a median age 61 [IQR 50-72]. A higher proportion of males presented critically ill when compared to females (30.1% vs 18.7%, p<0.046). Death occurred in 86 (24.6%) males and 27 (15.8%) females (p=0.024). In multivariable analysis age (per 10 years more) [AOR 1.83 (95% CI 1.42-2.35), p<0.0001], obesity [AOR 2.17 (95% CI 1.10-4.31), p=0.026], critical disease at hospital admission [AOR 6.34 (95% CI 3.50-11.48), p<0.0001] were independently associated to higher odds of death whereas gender was not. In conclusion, a higher proportion of males presented critically ill at hospital admission. Age, critical disease at hospital admission, obesity, anemia, D-dimer, eGFR, LDH and CK predicted death in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.