Key result
COVID-19 lockdown linked to a ~1.2 mmHg increase in SBP compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Why the study?
The COVID-19 pandemic and restrictive measures negatively affected health behavior, prompting exploration of whether the pandemic also influenced metabolic risk factors for CVD in women and men.
Does exposure to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown measures worsen metabolic risk factors for cardiovascular disease in adults without baseline CVD?
Observational (n=6,962)
Does exposure to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown measures worsen metabolic risk factors for cardiovascular disease in adults without baseline CVD?
The COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown measures were associated with negative impacts on several cardiovascular disease risk factors, including blood pressure and fasting plasma glucose, partially mediated by behavioral changes.
Modest lockdown-associated BP rises may elevate CVD risk; leaves open whether targeted interventions mitigate pandemic effects in diverse cohorts.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, including the restrictive measures taken to reduce the spread of the virus, negatively affected people's health behavior. We explored whether the pandemic also had an effect on metabolic risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women and men. We conducted a natural experiment, using data from 6962 participants without CVD at baseline (2011-2015) of six ethnic groups of the HELIUS study in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We studied whether participants whose follow-up measurements were taken within the 11 months before the pandemic (control group) differed from those whose measurements were taken taken within 6 months after the first lockdown (exposed group). Using sex-stratified linear regressions with inverse probability weighting, we compared changes in baseline- and follow-up data between the control and exposed group in six metabolic risk factors: systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP), total cholesterol (TC), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Next, we explored the mediating effect of changes in body-mass index (BMI), alcohol, smoking, depressive symptoms and negative life events at follow-up. We observed less favorable changes in SBP (+1.12mmHg for women, +1.38mmHg for men), DBP (+0.85mmHg, +0.80mmHg) and FPG (only in women, +0.12 mmol/L) over time in the exposed group relative to the control group. Conversely, changes in HbA1c (-0.65 mmol/mol, -0.84 mmol/mol) and eGFR (+1.06 mL/min, +1.04 mL/min) were more favorable in the exposed compared to the control group, respectively. Changes in SBP, DBP, and FPG were partially mediated by changes in behavioral factors, in particular BMI and alcohol consumption. Concluding, the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular behavioral changes associated with restrictive lockdown measures, may have negatively affected several CVD risk factors, in both women and men.
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Hummel et al. (2023) conducted an observational in Without cardiovascular disease (n=6,962). COVID-19 pandemic lockdown vs. Pre-pandemic period was evaluated on Changes in metabolic risk factors (SBP, DBP, TC, FPG, HbA1c, eGFR). The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown was associated with less favorable changes in systolic blood pressure (+1.12mmHg for women, +1.38mmHg for men) and diastolic blood pressure compared to pre-pandemic.
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