Examining the impact of sex differences and the COVID-19 pandemic on health and health care: findings from a national cross-sectional study
This article has been Reviewed by the following groups
Listed in
- Evaluated articles (ScreenIT)
Abstract
Objective
To examine the association of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the association of sex, and the joint association of sex and the COVID-19 pandemic with health communication, physical activity, mental health, and behavioral health.
Materials and Methods
We drew data from the National Cancer Institute's 2020 Health Information National Trends Survey. We described and compared the characteristics of social determinants of health, physical activity, mental health, alcohol use, patterns of social networking service use, and health information data sharing. Analyses were weighted to provide nationally representative estimates. Multivariate models (multiple linear regression, multiple logistic regression, and multinomial logistic model) were used to assess the sole and joint association with sex and pandemic. In addition, we applied the Bonferroni correction to adjust P values to decrease the risks of type I errors when making multiple statistical tests.
Results
Females were more likely to use mobile health and health communication technologies than males, and the difference increased after the pandemic. The association between sex and mental health was significant after the COVID-19 pandemic. Females were more likely to experience depression or anxiety disorders. Both males and females had a slight decrease in terms of the quantity and intensity of physical activity and females were less likely to perform moderate exercise and strength training regularly. Males were likely to drink more alcohol than females.
Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic amplifies the differences between males and females in health communication, physical activity, mental health, and behavioral health. Intersectional analyses of sex are integral to addressing issues that arise and mitigating the exacerbation of inequities. Responses to the pandemic should consider diverse perspectives, including sex and gender.
Article activity feed
-
-
SciScore for 10.1101/2021.09.02.21263055: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics not detected. Sex as a biological variable 13] Specifically, If Y is continuous, we assume it to be generated from the following linear model:The Pandemic is a dichotomous variable indicating whether the response was obtained before or after the declaration of the pandemic; Gender is a dichotomous variable with 0 referring to the male and 1 the female; ϵ is a zero-mean normal random variable. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: Thank you for sharing your code and data.
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:LIMITATION: While …
SciScore for 10.1101/2021.09.02.21263055: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics not detected. Sex as a biological variable 13] Specifically, If Y is continuous, we assume it to be generated from the following linear model:The Pandemic is a dichotomous variable indicating whether the response was obtained before or after the declaration of the pandemic; Gender is a dichotomous variable with 0 referring to the male and 1 the female; ϵ is a zero-mean normal random variable. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: Thank you for sharing your code and data.
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:LIMITATION: While the mailing and the reminder postcards were sent out on schedule and without any issues, the World Health Organization’s announcement on March 11 of the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the rest of the field period in HINTS 5 Cycle 4. Given the limitations of the dataset, we did not have information about when the participants filled out the survey, which may have impacted the results. Because the survey was cross-sectional, we could not examine causality among variables. Despite these limitations, this study provides nationally representative estimates and contributes to a better understanding of the effects of the gender differences and COVID-19 pandemic on common characteristics of health and health care.
Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.
-
