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. 2020 Sep;9(3):435-448.
doi: 10.12997/jla.2020.9.3.435. Epub 2020 Sep 21.

The Potential Role of Dyslipidemia in COVID-19 Severity: an Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews

Geun Joo Choi  1   2 , Hyun Min Kim  2   3 , Hyun Kang  1   2
Affiliations

The Potential Role of Dyslipidemia in COVID-19 Severity: an Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews

Geun Joo Choi et al. J Lipid Atheroscler. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the available knowledge about the potential association between dyslipidemia and the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as reported in previous published systematic reviews.

Methods: In this umbrella review (an overview of systematic reviews), we investigated the association between dyslipidemia and COVID-19 severity. A systematic search was performed of 4 main electronic databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library databases) from inception until August 2020. We evaluated the methodological quality of the included studies using the A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) 2 tool and used the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system to assess the quality of evidence for the outcome. In addition, we evaluated the strengths and limitations of the evidence and the methodological quality of the available studies.

Results: Out of 35 articles identified, 2 systematic reviews were included in the umbrella review. A total of 7,951 COVID-19-positive patients were included. According to the AMSTAR 2 criteria and GRADE system, the quality of the included studies was not high. A history of dyslipidemia is likely to be associated with the severity of COVID-19 infection, but the contrary is the case for cholesterol levels at hospitalization.

Conclusions: Although existing research on dyslipidemia and COVID-19 is limited, our findings suggest that dyslipidemia may play a role in the severity of COVID-19 infection. More adequately powered studies are needed.

Trial registration: PROSPERO Identifier: CRD42020205979.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cholesterol; Dyslipidemias; Hyperlipidemias; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. Hyun Min Kim and Hyun Kang are editors of Journal of Lipid and Atherosclerosis; however, they were not involved in the peer reviewer selection, evaluation, or decision process of this article. No other potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Flow diagram of studies identified and selected.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Forest plot of the severity of COVID-19 disease in patients with or without dyslipidemia: dyslipidemia group versus non-dyslipidemia group.
COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019; CI, confidence interval; df, degrees of freedom.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. Forest plot of lipid profiles according to the severity of COVID-19 disease: non-severe group versus severe group.
COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019; LDL, low-density lipoprotein; HDL, high-density lipoprotein; SD, standard deviation; CI, confidence interval; df, degrees of freedom.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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