A six-year study in a real-world population reveals an increased incidence of dyslipidemia during COVID-19

BACKGROUND. Recent studies conducted in individuals who survived COVID-19 suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with an increased risk of dyslipidemia. However, it remains unclear whether this augmented risk is confirmed in the general population and how this phenomenon is affecting the overall burden of cardiometabolic diseases. METHODS. To address these aspects, we conducted a 6-year longitudinal study to examine the broader effects of COVID-19 on dyslipidemia incidence in a real-world population (228,266 individuals) residing in Naples in southern Italy. The pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 groups were balanced for demographic and clinical factors using propensity score matching. RESULTS. Our analysis spans a period of 3 years during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2022), comparing dyslipidemia incidence with pre-pandemic data (2017-2019), with a follow-up of at least 1,095 days corresponding to 21,349,215 personyears. During the COVID-19 period, we detected an increased risk of developing any dyslipidemia when compared with the pre-COVID-19 triennium (OR = 1.29; 95% CI, 1.19-1.39). Importantly, these estimates were adjusted for comorbidities by a multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS. Taken together, our data reveal a notable rise in dyslipidemia incidence during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting the utility of establishing specialized clinical monitoring protocols for patients who survive COVID-19 to mitigate the risk of developing dyslipidemia.