Changes in the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in Korean adults after the COVID-19 outbreak

OBJECTIVES This study sought to reveal changes in the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) after the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and to identify the groups showing the greatest changes. METHODS We compared the prevalence of MetS between 2017–2019 (i.e., the 3-year period before the COVID-19 pandemic) and soon after the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 among 24,564 adults ≥19 years of age using data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. RESULTS The prevalence of MetS increased steadily between 2017 and 2020 (29.4 to 35.3%, p for trend