Italian study
obesity
OBESITY, CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE, CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE
A validation study was conducted by phone interviews of the last 2123 patients examined in the Outpatient Lipid Clinics of the University of Bologna and of the Niguarda Hospital in Milan during the last 12 months and on adequately dosed statins, fenofibrate, or both for at least 3 months. We excluded patients on lipid-lowering nutraceuticals (including polyunsaturated fatty acids), very low-dose or alternate-day statins, ezetimibe alone, PCSK9 inhibitors, and those on fibrates other than fenofibrate, in order to reduce the heterogeneity of the sample. Data were sampled based on comorbidities (obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease, managed as dummy variables), personal COVID history and severity, and contact with people affected by COVID. The study was carried out in adherence with the declaration of Helsinki. All participants were fully informed of the objectives of the questionnaire and gave their oral authorization to use their data for research purposes. The telephone calls were recorded. Age was compared between groups with ANOVA followed by post-hoc testing using Tukey’s method. Percentages were compared by a Chi-square test followed by Fisher’s exact test.