New York, USA: A cross-sectional study of 226,244 participants showed that dyslipidemia has increased by up to 30% during the COVID-19 pandemic. The rise in the incidence of commodity prices also impacted the health of people more dramatically particularly those persons of 65 years and above who were already diagnosed with obesity and diabetes. Scientists from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the United States observe that fat in the blood increases during the three pandemic years (2020-2022) and the rate of cases is higher than the pre-pandemic period.
According to a study conducted in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, the likelihood of getting dyslipidemia during the current pandemic was 29% higher to before the pandemic for the last three years. Dyslipidemia is an abnormal level of lipids, including cholesterol and triglycerides, in people’s blood that can cause various illnesses, including heart disease, stroke, and other problems relevant to heart and blood vessels.
A Rise Linked to the Pandemic
Researchers said that it reveals that there has been a rise in dyslipidemia cases due to the pandemic but the relationship between COVID-19 and high fat levels in the blood was not clearly determined in the study. However, as clearly envisaged dyslipidemia is an important risk factor for heart disease because it causes elevated amounts of dangerous fats in the bloodstream that may trigger heart attacks or other cardiovascular diseases.
One explanation for the change could be that COVID-19 related changes in people’s behaviour such as decreased physical activity, increased stress levels, and unhealthy diets partially could have contributed to the development of the observed increase. Stress kept individuals confined at home or work, thus making them more and more lethargy resulting into poor diet trapping them into the bad habits of consuming foods high in lipids.
Dyslipidemia is characterised by the presence of increased fats in the bloodstream and the consequent rise in LDL cholesterol- the so-called bad cholesterol. High LDL is categorised to raise chances of a heart attack, which might be responsible for increased post COVID heart attack rates as researchers posit. Despite the lack of concrete evidence up to this, scientists want people to self-observe their lipids and get professional advice in case of dyslipidemia detected. The negative consequences if deemed worthy of relegation are severe enough to warrant attention even when the symptoms are still small.
Similar Findings with COVID-19 and Health Status
Our research team has from previous studies shown that the COVID-19 outbreak also boosted cases of hypertension, commonly referred to as high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. This recent study now joins previous studies to suggest that the pandemic might have been an added factor to dyslipidemia which just worsens the situation for patients with cardiovascular diseases.