| Title: | Association of pre-pandemic high-density lipoprotein cholesterol with risk of COVID-19 hospitalisation and death: The UK Biobank cohort study |
| Journal: | Preventive Medicine Reports |
| Published: | 23 Jun 2021 |
| Pubmed: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34178592/ |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101461 |
| Citations: | 14 (3 in last 2 years) as of 8 Aug 2024 |
Publication 4225
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Abstract
There is growing evidence of, and biological plausibility for, elevated levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) being related to lower rates of respiratory disease. We tested whether pre-pandemic HDL-C within the normal range is associated with subsequent COVID-19 hospitalisations and death. We analysed data on participants from UK Biobank, a prospective cohort study, baseline data for which were collected between 2006 and 2010. Follow-up for COVID-19 was via hospitalisation records (1845 events in 317,306 individuals) and a national mortality registry (458 deaths in 317,833 individuals). After controlling for a series of confounding factors which included health behaviours, inflammatory markers, and socio-economic status, higher levels of HDL-C were related to a lower risk of later hospitalisation. The effect was linear (p-value for trend 0.001), whereby a 0.2 mmol/L increase in HDL-C was associated with a 7% lower risk (odds ratio; 95% confidence interval: 0.93; 0.90, 0.96). Corresponding relationships for mortality were markedly weaker, such that statistical significance at conventional levels were not apparent for both the linear trend (p-value 0.25) and the odds ratio per 0.2 mmol/L increase (0.98; 0.91, 1.05). While our finding for HDL-C and hospitalisations for COVID-19 raise the possibility that favourable modification of this cholesterol fraction via lifestyle changes or drug intervention may impact upon the risk of the disease, it warrants testing in other studies.</p>
5 Authors
- Camille Lassale
- Mark Hamer
- Álvaro Hernáez
- Catharine R. Gale
- G. David Batty
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