Eunjoo Kwon, Eun-Hee Nah, Suyoung Kim, Seon Cho, Hyeran Park

MediCheck Research Institute, Korea Association of Health Promotion, Seoul, Korea


Background: The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to restrictions on daily living including social distancing. These restrictions had an impact on the individual's healthy lifestyle and health status. We investigated the associated factors with changes of metabolic abnormalities among general population in COVID-19.
Methods: The participants were 43,639 people who received health check-ups twice in 2019 and 2021 during COVID-19 pandemic, at 16 health promotion centers. Metabolic abnormalities were identified according to the third report of the cholesterol education program criteria. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to confirm the factors related to changes of metabolic abnormalities during COVID-19.
Results: Metabolic syndrome and metabolic abnormalities increased overall during the COVID-19 pandemic. This increase was mostly appeared in males. The occurrence of metabolic syndrome during COVID-19 was associated with 50s and older age (odds ratio [OR], 1.130; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.019-1.254), attempt to quit smoking (OR, 1.467; 95% CI, 1.171-1.839), start smoking (OR, 1.251; 95% CI, 1.110-1.412), decrease in aerobic exercise (OR, 1.328; 95% CI, 1.162-1.517), and increase in strength exercise (OR, 0.704; 95% CI, 0.592-0.838).
Conclusions: The metabolic syndrome is closely related to smoking experience and lack of exercise during COVID-19.
Korean J Health Promot 2023;23(2):55-64

Keywords: COVID-19, Metabolic syndrome, Lifestyle, Social distancing