Sex difference in the association between surrogate markers of insulin resistance and arterial stiffness

Aims: To investigate the predictive capability of insulin resistance surrogate markers for insulin resistance and arterial stiffness based on sex. Methods: We assessed the association of triglyceride glucose (TyG) index, triglyceride to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (TG/HDL-C), visceral adiposity index (VAI), and lipid accumulation product (LAP) with homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) in both sexes. Results: A total of 1720 men and 1098 women were evaluated. HOMA-IR showed good correlation with the TyG index (men: r = 0.47, women: r = 0.45), TG/HDL-C (men: r = 0.45, women: r = 0.41), VAI (men: r = 0.51, women: r = 0.48), and LAP (men: r = 0.55, women r = 0.49) (all p-values < 0.001). These markers positively correlated with increased baPWV in both sexes. The standardized partial regression coefficients were 0.11 and 0.14 for the TyG index, 0.13 and 0.16 for TG/HDL-C, 0.14 and 0.19 for VAI, and 0.12 and 0.17 for LAP in men and women, respectively (all p-values 0.01; all p-values for sex interaction < 0.05). Conclusions: All insulin surrogate markers showed good correlation with HOMA-IR in both sexes. These indices were also associated with increased baPWV and the associations were stronger in women than in men. (C) 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.