ReviewThe lancet. Diabetes & endocrinology2022
Sexual dimorphism in COVID-19: potential clinical and public health implications.
Review in The lancet. Diabetes & endocrinology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 75 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
75 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 105 citations in OpenAlex.
- Attenuated immunogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and risk factors in stem cell transplant recipients: a meta-analysis.Blood advances · 2023Pooled it
- Asymptomatic COVID-19 among university students during the low-risk transmission period.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Characterizing Infiltrating Macrophages in Intracranial Aneurysm with IA Animal Models and Spatial Transcriptomics.Translational stroke research · 2026Review
- Electrophysiological and Molecular Features of Remdesivir-Induced Cardiac Toxicity in Male and Female Guinea Pigs.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Sex-specific microbiome-host interactions: from infection to chronic disease-call for papers.mSystems · 2026Article
- COVID-19 infection during the Omicron wave changed carotid structure compared with uninfected controls: a longitudinal study.BMC medical imaging · 2026Article
- Sex Differences in Long COVID Prevalence Over One year After the Acute Phase, and Related Risk Factors. The GINA-COVID Cohort Study.International journal of women's health · 2026Article
- Neutrophils are key modulators of sex differences in LPS-induced shock in mice.Blood vessels, thrombosis & hemostasis · 2025Article
- An integrated multi-omic natural history study of human development, sexual dimorphism, and the effects of trisomy 21.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Health risk assessment for severe COVID-19 in Taiwan: a multi-centre electronic health record study.Journal of global health · 2025Article
- Why gender and sex matter in infectious disease modelling: A conceptual framework.SSM - population health · 2025Article
- Non-human primate seasonal transcriptome atlas reveals seasonal changes in physiology and diseases.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Sex and other predictors of mortality in long-term follow-up of patients with cardiovascular disease and COVID-19: a single-center retrospective study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- A Large-Scale Serological Survey in Pets From October 2020 Through June 2021 in France Shows Significantly Higher Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in Cats Compared to Dogs.Zoonoses and public health · 2025Article
- Reduced functional independence and multimorbidity increases the risk of severe infection among older patients with Omicron: a multicenter retrospective cohort study.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Resting-state neural dynamics changes in older adults with post-COVID syndrome and the modulatory effect of cognitive training and sex.GeroScience · 2025Article
- Association of zinc deficiency and clinical symptoms, inflammatory markers, severity of COVID-19 in hospitalized children.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Characterization of experimental cerebral malaria by volumetric MRI A comparative study across the sexes.PloS one · 2025Article
- Decrease in CD4 and CD8 lymphocytes are predictors of severe clinical picture and unfavorable outcome of the disease in patients with COVID-19.Open medicine (Warsaw, Poland) · 2025Article
- Predicting higher risk factors for COVID-19 short-term reinfection in patients with rheumatic diseases: a modeling study based on XGBoost algorithm.Journal of translational medicine · 2024Article
15 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
19 authors at 7 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Current evidence suggests that severity and mortality of COVID-19 is higher in men than in women, whereas women might be at increased risk of COVID-19 reinfection and development of long COVID. Differences between sexes have been observed in other infectious diseases and in the response to vaccines. Sex-specific expression patterns of proteins mediating virus binding and entry, and divergent reactions of the immune and endocrine system, in particular the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, in response to acute stress might explain the higher severity of COVID-19 in men. In this Personal View, we discuss how sex hormones, comorbidities, and the sex chromosome complement influence these mechanisms in the context of COVID-19. Due to its role in the severity and progression of SARS-CoV-2 infections, we argue that sexual dimorphism has potential implications for disease treatment, public health measures, and follow-up of patients predisposed to the development of long COVID. We suggest that sex differences could be considered in future pandemic surveillance and treatment of patients with COVID-19 to help to achieve better disease stratification and improved outcomes.
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.