Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 12, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24265-8
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Funding
- Aarhus University Research Foundation [AUFF-F-2018-7-5]
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The study found that sex-disaggregated analyses are infrequently presented or planned in COVID-19 studies, with only a small percentage including sex as an analytical variable. This highlights the importance of considering sex and gender differences in research designs for COVID-19 studies.
Sex and gender differences impact the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 mortality. Furthermore, sex differences influence the frequency and severity of pharmacological side effects. A large number of clinical trials to develop new therapeutic approaches and vaccines for COVID-19 are ongoing. We investigated the inclusion of sex and/or gender in COVID-19 studies on ClinicalTrials.gov, collecting data for the period January 1, 2020 to January 26, 2021. Here, we show that of the 4,420 registered SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 studies, 935 (21.2%) address sex/gender solely in the context of recruitment, 237 (5.4%) plan sex-matched or representative samples or emphasized sex/gender reporting, and only 178 (4%) explicitly report a plan to include sex/gender as an analytical variable. Just eight (17.8%) of the 45 COVID-19 related clinical trials published in scientific journals until December 15, 2020 report sex-disaggregated results or subgroup analyses. Sex and gender have been associated with differences in SARS-CoV-2 incidence and clinical outcomes and therefore warrant consideration in study designs. Here, the authors assess registered and published clinical COVID-19 studies and find that sex-disaggregated analyses are infrequently presented or planned.
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