The prevalence of metabolic conditions before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and its association with health and sociodemographic factors

• Published in: PloS one 2023-02, Vol.18 (2), p.e0279442-e0279442
• Main Authors: Mamudu, Hadii M, Adzrago, David, Odame, Emmanuel O, Dada, Oluwabunmi, Nriagu, Valentine, Paul, Trishita, Weierbach, Florence W, Dowling-McClay, Karilynn, Stewart, David W, Adams, Jessica, Paul, Timir K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Adults; Anxiety; Biology and Life Sciences; Body mass index; Comparative analysis; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; Depression - epidemiology; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Distribution; Electronic cigarettes; Epidemics; Exercise; Health risks; Humans; Hypertension; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mental depression; Metabolic diseases; Obesity; Pandemics; Prevalence; Public health; Regression analysis; Risk factors; Smoking; Social Sciences; Sociodemographic Factors; Subgroups; Surveys; Type 2 diabetes
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0279442

There is a dearth of evidence on the relationship between COVID-19 and metabolic conditions among the general U.S. population. We examined the prevalence and association of metabolic conditions with health and sociodemographic factors before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were drawn from the 2019 (N = 5,359) and 2020 (N = 3,830) Health Information National Trends Surveys on adults to compare observations before (2019) and during (2020) the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted weighted descriptive and multivariable logistic regression analyses to assess the study objective. During the pandemic, compared to pre-pandemic, the prevalence of diabetes (18.10% vs. 17.28%) has increased, while the prevalence of hypertension (36.38% vs. 36.36%) and obesity (34.68% vs. 34.18%) has remained similar. In general, the prevalence of metabolic conditions was higher during the pandemic (56.09%) compared to pre-pandemic (54.96%). Compared to never smokers, former smokers had higher odds of metabolic conditions (AOR = 1.38, 95% CI = 1.01, 1.87 and AOR = 1.57, 95% CI = 1.10, 2.25) before and during the pandemic, respectively. People with mild anxiety/depression symptoms (before: AOR = 1.52, 95% CI = 1.06, 2.19 and during: AOR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.01, 2.38) had higher odds of metabolic conditions relative to those with no anxiety/depression symptoms. This study found increased odds of metabolic conditions among certain subgroups of US adults during the pandemic. We recommend further studies and proper allocation of public health resources to address these conditions.