 1. The objective of the study was to describe the associations between age and sex with the risk of COVID-19 in different severity stages ranging from infection to death. 2. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted as part of the study. 3. PubMed and Mbase were used as data sources through 4 May 2020. 4. The study included cohort and case control studies that evaluated differences in age and sex on the risk of COVID-19 infection, disease severity, intensive care unit, ICU, admission and death. 5. Data was extracted from published studies and data acquired by contacting authors using random effects meta-analysis. 6. The New Castle Ottawa scale was used to assess the risk of bias. 7. A total of 59 studies comprising 36,470 patients were included in the analyses. 8. The methodological quality of the included papers was high, 8.2 out of 9. 9. Men had a higher risk for infection with COVID-19 and women, relative risk, R1.08, 95% Ci1.03 to 1.12. 10. When infected, they also had a higher risk for severe COVID-19 disease, R1.18, 95% Ci1.10 to 1.27, a higher need for intensive care, R1.38, 95% Ci1.09 to 1.74, and a higher risk of death, R1.50, 95% Ci1.18 to 1.91. 11. The analyses also showed that patients aged. This article was authored by Maurice P. Zegers, Bart G. P. Jules, Shahob Jolani, and others.