Sex-specific difference of in-hospital mortality from COVID-19 in South Korea.

ABSTRACT

We sought to assess the impact of sex on in-hospital mortality of patients with COVID-19 infection in South Korea. The study recruited 5,628 prospective consecutive patients who were hospitalized in South Korea with COVID-19 infection, and enrolled in the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) dataset between January 20, 2020, and April 30, 2020. The primary endpoint was in-hospital death from COVID-19. The cohort comprised of 3,308 women (59%) and 2,320 men (41%). In-hospital death was significantly lower in women than men (3.5% vs. 5.5%, hazard ratio (HR) 0.61; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.47 to 0.79, p <0.001). Results were consistent after multivariable regression (HR 0.59; 95% CI 0.41 to 0.85, p = 0.023) and propensity score matching (HR 0.51; 95% CI 0.30 to 0.86, p = 0.012). In South Korea, women had a significantly lower risk of in-hospital death amongst those patients hospitalized with COVID-19 infection.