The effect of natural disasters on dyslipidemia: a nationwide study from China

Globally, dyslipidemia has become a leading risk factor for many adverse health outcomes, especially among middle-aged and elderly populations. Accumulating evidence suggests that environmental-level factors may also be associated with the risk of dyslipidemia. Although natural disasters can be considered an acute form of environmental change, their effects on dyslipidemia have received much less attention. The objective of our study was to examine the effect of natural disasters on dyslipidemia. Our study obtained dyslipidemia data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) and natural disaster index data from Atlas of Natural Disaster in China (ANDC). A total of four waves of data were ultimately included in our study. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to examine the effect of the natural disaster index on dyslipidemia. Our findings suggest that increasing natural disaster damage may contribute to a higher risk of dyslipidemia. Natural disasters could be a critical factor in the onset and development of dyslipidemia, in addition to their direct impacts on individual health.