Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Metabolic/Inflammatory Profile in Adolescents: Cellular Studies and Predictive Biomarkers

Abstract

Abstract Context The COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdown restrictions changed people's lifestyles with potential negative impact on health. Objective This longitudinal study aimed to assess the COVID-19 lockdown influence on the adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD) pattern and its effects on the metabolic inflammatory profile in a cohort of healthy adolescents. Methods We analyzed anthropometric measurements, body composition, and MD adherence along with serum metabolic and inflammatory profile in 77 healthy adolescents from southern Italy before and after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Additionally, we evaluated the biological properties of prelockdown and postlockdown serum on human HepG2 and HuH-7 hepatic cells. Results We did not observe any significant differences in anthropometric and body composition parameters as well as MD adherence score in adolescents between prelockdown and postlockdown COVID-19. Intriguingly, although the metabolic profile of adolescents postlockdown was within the normal range, we evidenced increased levels of fasting glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) along with a reduction in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in postlockdown compared with prelockdown adolescent serum. In addition, elevated levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin-1β, and ferritin were found in postlockdown adolescents compared with their prelockdown counterparts. Consistent with the biochemical parameters, we observed enhanced lipid accumulation with altered mitochondrial functions and increased reactive oxygen species production in HepG2 and HuH-7 cells treated with pooled serum from postlockdown with respect to prelockdown period. Receiver operator characteristic curve analysis identified total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, TNF-α, and ferritin to be predictive serum markers for metabolic and inflammatory profiling after the lockdown period. Conclusion Our findings highlight that the COVID-19 lockdown, forcing sedentary behavior, had a negative impact on adolescents’ metabolic and inflammatory profile which may result in long-term poor health outcomes.