Impact of age, sex, comorbidities and clinical symptoms on the severity of COVID-19 cases: A meta-analysis with 55 studies and 10014 cases

PURPOSE: Severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) cases are overgrowing globally and now become a pandemic. A meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the impact of age, sex, comorbidities, and clinical characteristics on the severity of COVID-19 to help diagnose and evaluate the current outbreak in clinical decision-making. METHODS: PubMed, ScienceDirect, and BMC were searched to collect data about demographic, clinical characteristics, and comorbidities of COVID-19 patients. Meta-analysis was conducted with Review Manager 5.3. Publication bias was assessed using Egger's test and Begg-Mazumdar's rank correlation. RESULTS: Fifty-five studies were included in this meta-analysis, including 10014 patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Male cases and cases with an age of ≥50 years (OR = 2.41, p 0.05). No publication bias was found in case of age (≥50 years, age≥65 years), comorbidities and clinical manifestations. CONCLUSIONS: Males patients and elderly or older patients (age ≥50 years) are at higher risk of developing severity, whereas comorbidities and clinical manifestations could significantly affect the prognosis and severity of COVID-19.