Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2023 Jul;33(7):1415-1419.
doi: 10.1016/j.numecd.2023.04.006. Epub 2023 Apr 15.

Cardiovascular risk and the COVID-19 pandemic: A retrospective observational study in a population of healthcare professionals

G Solfanelli  1 , D Giaccio  2 , A Tropea  2 , V Bucicovschi  2 , G Gallo  2 , G Tocci  2 , B Musumeci  2 , L Marcellini  3 , E Barbato  2 , M Volpe  4 , A Battistoni  2
Affiliations
Observational Study

Cardiovascular risk and the COVID-19 pandemic: A retrospective observational study in a population of healthcare professionals

G Solfanelli et al. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2023 Jul.

Abstract

Background and aim: To contain the spread of COVID-19, many countries imposed several restrictive measures, leading to radical changes in daily life behaviors. Healthcare workers experienced additional stress due to the increased risk of contagion, possibly causing an increase in unhealthy habits. We investigated changes in cardiovascular (CV) risk assessed by the SCORE-2 in a healthy population of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic; an analysis by subgroups was also conducted (sportspeople vs sedentary subjects).

Methods and results: We compared medical examination and blood tests in a population of 264 workers aged over 40, performed yearly before (T0) and during the pandemic (T1, T2). We found a significant increase in the average CV risk, according to SCORE-2, during the follow-up in our healthy population, with a shift from a mean low-moderate risk profile at T0 (2.35%) to a mean high-risk profile at T2 (2.80%). Furthermore, in sedentary subjects was observed a greater and early increase in SCORE-2 compared to sportspeople.

Conclusions: Since 2019, we observed an increase in CV risk profile in a healthy population of healthcare workers, particularly in sedentary subjects, highlighting the need to reassess SCORE-2 every year to promptly treat high-risk subjects, according to the latest Guidelines.

Keywords: Arterial hypertension; COVID-19; Cardiovascular prevention; Cardiovascular risk; SCORE-2.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors have nothing to disclose.

Figures

Graph 1
Graph 1
Trend of SCORE-2 in the enrolled population.
Graph 2
Graph 2
Trend of SCORE-2 in sportspeople and in sedentary subjects.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Rothan H.A., Byrareddy S.N. The epidemiology and pathogenesis of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. J Autoimmun. 2020;109 doi: 10.1016/j.jaut.2020.102433. Academic Press. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Battistoni A., Volpe M. Might renin-angiotensin system blockers play a role in the COVID-19 pandemic? Eur Heart J Cardiovasc Pharmacother. 2020;6(4):248–251. doi: 10.1093/ehjcvp/pvaa030. PMID: 32286607; PMCID: PMC7184353. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jin Y., Yang H., Ji W., Wu W., Chen S., Zhang W., Duan G. Virology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, and control of COVID-19. Viruses. 2020;12(4):372. doi: 10.3390/v12040372. PMID: 32230900; PMCID: PMC7232198. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mahase E. Coronavirus covid-19 has killed more people than SARS and MERS combined, despite lower case fatality rate. BMJ. 2020;368:m641. doi: 10.1136/bmj.m641. PMID: 32071063. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Yu X., Yang R. COVID-19 transmission through asymptomatic carriers is a challenge to containment. Influenza Other Respir Viruses. 2020;14(4):474–475. doi: 10.1111/irv.12743. Epub 2020 Apr 15. PMID: 32246886; PMCID: PMC7228388. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types