MySql - is possible that performance issues are caused by dynamic SQL? We have this MySQL SP, which uses dynamic SQL.
It seems it does NOT perform well under load. 

It is possible that this SP becomes slow under load because it uses dynamic SQL?
Can dynamic SQL cause performance issues in MySql (eg because it is not cached by the engine)?

Please note that this SP is called from several other SPs. It passes results to parent SPs using a temp table.

UPDATE - problem solved (see my answer below)

CREATE PROCEDURE `CreateAreas`(
    _areas varchar(21844),
    _comparisonGroup varchar(21844),
    _parentArea varchar(21844),
    _areaType varchar(21844)
)
BEGIN

    -- create temporary table "areas"
    -- fill with area ids

    create temporary table areas (
        id int not null,
        code varchar(30),
        name varchar(100),
        shortName varchar(100),
        levelid int not null,
        sortOrder int not null,
        key (id)
    );

    -- assumes that only one of the 3 options is valid, areas, comparison group, bounded comparison group

    if (_areas is not null) then

        set @sql = concat('insert into areas (id, code, name, shortName, levelid, sortOrder) select id, Code, Name, ShortName, LevelID, 0 from GeoArea where Code in (''', replace(_areas, ',', ''','''), ''')');
        prepare stmt from @sql;
        execute stmt;
        deallocate prepare stmt;

    elseif (_comparisonGroup is not null) then

        -- might not be the most efficient way, but is consistent with the approach above, and we do not expect the list to be long
        insert into areas (id, code, name, shortName, levelid, sortOrder)
        select GeoAreaID, GeoArea.Code, GeoArea.Name, GeoArea.ShortName, GeoArea.LevelID, SortOrder
        from ComparisonGroupGeoAreaLink
        INNER JOIN
        GeoArea
        ON GeoArea.ID = GeoAreaID
        where ComparisonGroupID = (select id from ComparisonGroup where Identifier = _comparisonGroup)
        and IsMember = 1;

    elseif (_parentArea is not null and _areaType is not null) then

        -- might not be the most efficient way, but is consistent with the approach above, and we do not expect the list to be long
        insert into areas (id, code, name, shortName, levelid, sortOrder)
    select a.ID, a.Code, a.Name, a.ShortName, a.LevelID, 0
        from (select id from GeoArea where Code = _parentArea) as t
        INNER JOIN
        GeoAreaLinkCache c
        ON
        c.ParentAreaID = t.id
        inner join GeoArea a
        on c.ChildAreaID = a.ID
        INNER JOIN
        (select id from GeoAreaLevel where Identifier = _areaType) as l
        ON
        a.LevelID = l.id;        

    elseif (_areaType is not null) then

        -- might not be the most efficient way, but is consistent with the approach above, and we do not expect the list to be long
        set @sql = concat('insert into areas (id, code, name, shortName, levelid, sortOrder)
        select a.ID, a.Code, a.Name, a.ShortName, a.LevelID, 0
        from 
        (select id from GeoAreaLevel where Identifier in (''', replace(_areaType, ',', ''','''), ''')) l
        INNER JOIN
        GeoArea a
        ON
        a.LevelID = l.id');
        prepare stmt from @sql;
        execute stmt;
        deallocate prepare stmt;


    end if;                 

END
Good news - it seems dynamic SQL is NOT a bottleneck.

The solution was to change temp tables to MEMORY engine. 
It did the trick and made AMAZING difference. Solution was suggested in 

Can MySql nested SP be a bottleneck?

create temporary table areas (
    id int not null,
    code varchar(30),
    name varchar(100),
    shortName varchar(100),
    levelid int not null,
    sortOrder int not null,
    key (id)
) ENGINE=MEMORY;