Cardiometabolic Risk Increased in Working-Aged Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND: Public health measures necessary to mitigate the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) impacted lifestyles and health practices. This multiyear cohort analysis of U.S. working-aged adults aims to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on metabolic syndrome and explores contributing factors. METHODS: This longitudinal study (n = 19,543) evaluated year-to-year changes in metabolic syndrome and cardiometabolic risk factors through employer-sponsored annual health assessment before and during the COVID-19 pandemic using logistic mixed-effects model. RESULTS: From prepandemic to pandemic (2019 to 2020), prevalence of metabolic syndrome increased by 3.5% for men and 3.0% for women, across all ethnic groups. This change was mainly driven by increased fasting glucose (7.3%) and blood pressure (5.2%). The increased risk of metabolic syndrome was more likely to occur in individuals with an elevated body mass index (BMI) combined with insufficient sleep or physical activity. CONCLUSIONS: Cardiometabolic risk increased during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with before the pandemic in a working-aged adult population, more so for those with a high BMI, unhealthy sleep, and low physical activity practices. Given this observation, identification of risk and intervention (including lifestyle and medical) is increasingly necessary to reduce the cardiovascular and metabolic risk, and improve working-aged population health.