Table 3. Excerpted definitions, subcategories and categories in the qualitative coding of the concept ‘sex’^*.

Excerpted definitions	Refers to the Committee [11] which “defined sex as the classification of living things as male or female based on their reproductive organs and functions” (page 13) [28]	“Sex” which refers to the biological characteristics that define humans as female or male” (page 7) [48]	“an understanding, beyond simple reproductive differences, of the complex biological factors that affect the health of men and women” (page 19) [29]
	Sex (nature, e.g. genes and hormones) (page 13) [28]	Sex (biological) (page 20) [30]
	“Sex reflecting a male or a female individual based on chromosomal complement and physical characteristics” (page 6) [49]	Sex (being male or female) (page 17) [28]
Subcategories	Reproductive origins, dualism	Nonspecific biological differences	Beyond simple reproductive differences
Categories	Simple biological differences		More complex biological differences

^*based on the 5 papers that defined ‘sex’.