Schizophrenia is 2nd highest risk factor for dying of COVID-19, after age

[Chakaconcarne]

10. Schizophrenics tend to have higher levels of cholesterol.....

as do the elderly. The belief is that high cholesterol provides a nice little pathway for Covid into cell membranes. High Cholesterol is a risk factor for covid-related death.

They have been looking at the effect of statins (cholesterol lowering drugs) on the reduction of cholesterol at cell membranes and in turn the viral load of COVID, inflammation and recovery times. They are still trying to establish as solid connection, but the thought at this point is that statins should not be discontinued in COVID + patients.

I find it all very interesting, because the high cholesterol American diet could correlate with our high rate of mortality compared to other countries... Furthermore is there a range or threshold of HDL levels that determine the degree of infection, symptoms, etc...

It will be interesting to see what comes of this if you think about how a big chunk of American Capitalism is built off High Cholesterol foods.