Recent studies suggest that individuals who have been infected with Covid may have an increased risk of high cholesterol levels for up to a year post-infection, which has prompted doctors to investigate this trend further.
Dr. Ashish Sarraju, a cardiologist from the Cleveland Clinic, stated that the findings are “provocative” and deserve more attention. One study, published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, found that those with a prior Covid infection had a 24% higher risk for high cholesterol levels.
This study observed new diagnoses of high cholesterol among 51,919 individuals who had Covid, who had sought care within the Department of Veterans Affairs from March 2020 to January 2021, before vaccines were widely available. The majority of these patients were white men in their early 60s.
When compared to 2.6 million individuals who did not have Covid during the same time frame, the patients who had Covid were more likely to have high levels of triglycerides and LDL cholesterol up to a year later. They were also more likely to have lower levels of the “good” HDL cholesterol.
The study, conducted by Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly,of St. Louis, examined new diagnoses of high cholesterol among 51,919 people who had contracted Covid from March 2020 to January 2021, prior to the widespread availability of vaccines.
The participants were patients who sought care within the Department of Veterans Affairs and were primarily white men in their early 60s. The results showed that compared to 2.6 million people who did not contract Covid during the same time frame, patients who had contracted Covid were more likely to have high levels of triglycerides and LDL cholesterol, commonly known as the “bad” kind of cholesterol, up to a year later. A second study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, which included a much younger group of participants, had similar findings.
