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Impact of sex and gender on post-COVID-19 syndrome, Switzerland, 2020
- Caroline E Gebhard1,* , Claudia Sütsch2,3,* , Pimrapat Gebert4 , Bianca Gysi1 , Susan Bengs2,3 , Atanas Todorov2,3 , Manja Deforth5 , Philipp K Buehler6 , Alexander Meisel2,3 , Reto A Schuepbach6 , Annelies S Zinkernagel7 , Silvio D Brugger7 , Claudio Acevedo7 , Dimitri Patriki8 , Benedikt Wiggli9 , Jürg H Beer3,9 , Andrée Friedl9 , Raphael Twerenbold10,11 , Gabriela M Kuster10,12 , Hans Pargger1 , Sarah Tschudin-Sutter13 , Joerg C Schefold14 , Thibaud Spinetti14 , Chiara Henze2,3 , Mina Pasqualini2,3 , Dominik F Sager2,3 , Lilian Mayrhofer1 , Mirjam Grieder1 , Janna Tontsch1 , Fabian C Franzeck15 , Pedro D Wendel Garcia6 , Daniel A Hofmaenner6 , Thomas Scheier7 , Jan Bartussek6,16 , Ahmed Haider2,3,17 , Muriel Grämer2,3 , Nidaa Mikail2,3 , Alexia Rossi2,3 , Núria Zellweger1 , Petra Opić1 , Angela Portmann2,3 , Roland von Känel18 , Aju P Pazhenkottil2 , Michael Messerli2 , Ronny R Buechel2 , Philipp A Kaufmann2 , Valerie Treyer2 , Martin Siegemund1 , Ulrike Held5 , Vera Regitz-Zagrosek19 , Catherine Gebhard2,3
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View Affiliations Hide AffiliationsAffiliations: 1 Intensive Care Unit, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland 2 Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland 3 Center for Molecular Cardiology, University of Zurich, Schlieren, Switzerland 4 Institute of Biometry and Clinical Epidemiology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany 5 Department of Biostatistics at Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland 6 Institute of Intensive Care, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland 7 Department of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland 8 Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland 9 Department of Internal Medicine, Cantonal Hospital of Baden, Baden, Switzerland 10 Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland 11 Department of Cardiology and University Center of Cardiovascular Science, University Heart and Vascular Center Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany 12 Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland 13 Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland 14 Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Inselspital Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland 15 Department of Informatics, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland 16 Department of Quantitative Biomedicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland 17 Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States 18 Department of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland 19 Institute of Gender in Medicine (GiM), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany * These authors contributed equallyCatherine GebhardCatherine.gebhard usz.ch
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Citation style for this article: Gebhard Caroline E, Sütsch Claudia, Gebert Pimrapat, Gysi Bianca, Bengs Susan, Todorov Atanas, Deforth Manja, Buehler Philipp K, Meisel Alexander, Schuepbach Reto A, Zinkernagel Annelies S, Brugger Silvio D, Acevedo Claudio, Patriki Dimitri, Wiggli Benedikt, Beer Jürg H, Friedl Andrée, Twerenbold Raphael, Kuster Gabriela M, Pargger Hans, Tschudin-Sutter Sarah, Schefold Joerg C, Spinetti Thibaud, Henze Chiara, Pasqualini Mina, Sager Dominik F, Mayrhofer Lilian, Grieder Mirjam, Tontsch Janna, Franzeck Fabian C, Wendel Garcia Pedro D, Hofmaenner Daniel A, Scheier Thomas, Bartussek Jan, Haider Ahmed, Grämer Muriel, Mikail Nidaa, Rossi Alexia, Zellweger Núria, Opić Petra, Portmann Angela, von Känel Roland, Pazhenkottil Aju P, Messerli Michael, Buechel Ronny R, Kaufmann Philipp A, Treyer Valerie, Siegemund Martin, Held Ulrike, Regitz-Zagrosek Vera, Gebhard Catherine. Impact of sex and gender on post-COVID-19 syndrome, Switzerland, 2020 . Euro Surveill. 2024;29(2):pii=2300200. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2024.29.2.2300200 Received: 03 Apr 2023; Accepted: 04 Oct 2023
Abstract
Women are overrepresented among individuals with post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC). Biological (sex) as well as sociocultural (gender) differences between women and men might account for this imbalance, yet their impact on PASC is unknown.
We assessed the impact of sex and gender on PASC in a Swiss population.
Our multicentre prospective cohort study included 2,856 (46% women, mean age 44.2 ± 16.8 years) outpatients and hospitalised patients with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Among those who remained outpatients during their first infection, women reported persisting symptoms more often than men (40.5% vs 25.5% of men; p < 0.001). This sex difference was absent in hospitalised patients. In a crude analysis, both female biological sex (RR = 1.59; 95% CI: 1.41–1.79; p < 0.001) and a score summarising gendered sociocultural variables (RR = 1.05; 95% CI: 1.03–1.07; p < 0.001) were significantly associated with PASC. Following multivariable adjustment, biological female sex (RR = 0.96; 95% CI: 0.74–1.25; p = 0.763) was outperformed by feminine gender-related factors such as a higher stress level (RR = 1.04; 95% CI: 1.01–1.06; p = 0.003), lower education (RR = 1.16; 95% CI: 1.03–1.30; p = 0.011), being female and living alone (RR = 1.91; 95% CI: 1.29–2.83; p = 0.001) or being male and earning the highest income in the household (RR = 0.76; 95% CI: 0.60–0.97; p = 0.030).
Specific sociocultural parameters that differ in prevalence between women and men, or imply a unique risk for women, are predictors of PASC and may explain, at least in part, the higher incidence of PASC in women. Once patients are hospitalised during acute infection, sex differences in PASC are no longer evident.
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