Declined serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol is associated with the severity of COVID-19 infection

Background: COVID-19 infection is epidemic worldwide. We describe the serum lipid profile of the patients with COVID-19 infection.

Methods: In this retrospective study, we collected the first clinical laboratory data of 114 patients on admission, and 80 healthy controls. Meanwhile, we monitored the serum lipid profile, COVID-19 nucleic acid and chest CT scan of a severe patient from the early stage of infection to the recovery period for a total of 80 days.

Results: Compared with the healthy controls, the patients had sharply decreased concentrations of total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol (P < 0.001). Among the patients, HDL-cholesterol concentration in severe groups was significantly lower than the common groups [1.01 (0.88-1.20) vs 1.21 (1.02-1.48) mmol/l, P < 0.001]. The lipid profile of a severe patient showed that serum cholesterol concentration significantly decreased in the early stage and returned to be normal in the recovery period. Moreover, the change of HDL-cholesterol in this patient was consistent with the results of nucleic acid tests and chest CT scans. In correlation analysis, HDL-cholesterol concentration was negatively correlated with C-reactive protein (CRP, r = -0.396, P < 0.001) and positively correlated with lymphocytes (r = 0.336, P < 0.001). The area under curve (AUC) in receiver operating characteristic (ROC) of HDL-cholesterol was 0.732 (P < 0.001), and, the adjusted odd ratio (OR) of HDL-cholesterol was 0.023 (95% CI 0.002-0.227).

Conclusions: Decreased serum HDL-cholesterol is associated with the severity of COVID-19 infection.