Paucity and Disparity of Publicly Available Sex-Disaggregated Data for the COVID-19 Epidemic Hamper Evidence-Based Decision-Making.

ABSTRACT: COVID-19 has joined the long list of sexually dimorphic human disorders. Higher lethality in men, evident in the first reports from China, was confirmed in the subsequent Italian outbreak. Newspapers and scientific journals commented on this finding and the preexisting conditions, biological processes, and behavioral differences that may underlie it. However, little appeared to be released about sex differences in severity of disease, comorbidities, rate of recovery, length of hospital stay, or number of tests performed. Systematic analysis of official websites for 20 countries and 6 US states revealed a wide disparity in sex-disaggregated data made available to the public and scholars. Only a handful reported cases by sex. None of the other characteristics, including deaths, were stratifi

SUBMITTER: Kocher K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7781558 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature