Sex and gender differences in COVID-19 infection: a narrative review

Document Type : Review Article

Authors

1 Quchan School of Nursing, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

2 Associate Professor Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

10.22038/nnj.2025.85322.1471

Abstract

Abstract
Background and Aims:
SARS-CoV-2 induced the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, the most significant medical challenge in the last century. One of the potential approaches for the better understanding of COVID-19 infection is the fact that male patients experience severe complications and show higher rate of mortality. The present study reviews the sex and gender differences in covid-19 infection.
Materials and Methods: In this narrative study, the English and Persian papers from PubMed, Scopus, IRANMEDEX, and Google scholar from 2019 to 2023 were reviewed. The used keywords were COVID-19, corona virus, sex and gender differences. 180 papers were found in total and 62 papers were selected finally.
Results: It seems that sex differences are among the most important factors involved in different severity and mortality of covid-19. Different sociocultural situations of men and women as well as distinctive factors such as pregnancy, parturition, and lactation could also be effective in susceptibility of women.
Conclusion: Despite the clear role of sex differences in severity and mortality rate in covid-19, the majority of researches have ignored them in their conclusions. A comprehensive understanding of these differences could have a fundamental role for promoting and designing customized strategies in clinical evaluation, prevention, and treatment for each sex.

Keywords

Navid No
Volume 28, Issue 95
November 2025

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