Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine · Oct 30, 2026

Incidence and Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome Among Hospital Employees: A Comparison Before and After COVID-19 Pandemic

By Luo H, Sun K, Wang Z et al.

Objective: To investigate metabolic syndrome (MetS) incidence and prevalence in healthcare workers pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The cohort included 3,759 healthcare workers with repeated health examinations from 2014 to 2022. The incidence density and prevalence of MetS (≥3 of 5 components) were compared using Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE), adjusted for gender, age and department. Results: MetS prevalence was 20.0% (2014-2016), 26.3% (2017-2019), and 26.2% (2020-2022). The incidence density significantly dropped from 32.8 and 43.4 to 23.8 per 1000 person-years. Unlike the overall decline in most components during the pandemic (2020-2022), hyperglycemia incidence increased steadily throughout the study periods, with the highest pre-pandemic incidence shifting from hypertension to hypertriglyceridemia. Conclusions: The metabolic health of healthcare workers remains a substantial concern, with hypertriglyceridemia and hyperglycemia warranting targeted interventions despite an overall decrease in MetS incidence.

doi.org/10.1097/jom.0000000000003917PubMed 42970666Populations