Sex differences in COVID-19 case fatality: do we know enough?

Global data indicate higher COVID-19 case fatality rates among men than women. Most countries with available data indicate a male to female case fatality ratio higher than 1·0, ranging up to 3·5 in some cases (appendix).1 However, the COVID-19 case fatality rate is higher in women than men in a few countries, such as India, which is one of the worst-affected countries. As of Sept 30, 2020, India had more than 6·4 million recorded COVID-19 cases.2 In India, the COVID-19 case fatality rate among men is 2·9% and 3·3% among women.