Fasting triglycerides and glucose index is more suitable for the identification of metabolically unhealthy individuals in the Chinese adult population: A nationwide study

Aims/Introduction Metabolic unhealth can be defined by the components of metabolic syndrome, which is closely connected to insulin resistance. We aimed to determine a simple index to identify metabolic unhealth in the Chinese adult population. Materials and Methods A total of 30,291 individuals were screened from the China National Diabetes and Metabolic Disorders Study carried out from June 2007 to May 2008. Metabolic unhealth was defined using components of metabolic syndrome, except waist circumference. We compared the three surrogate indices of insulin resistance: the product of fasting triglycerides and glucose (TyG), triglycerides divided by high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and the metabolic score for insulin resistance for the evaluation of metabolic status. Results All indices had high sensitivity and specificity for the identification of metabolic unhealth, especially the TyG index with an area under the curve of 0.863 for men and 0.867 for women. Participants were divided into subgroups for further analysis. The TyG index also showed high diagnostic values, especially for younger individuals and men with normal waist circumference. Sex-specific cut-offs for three indices were also used to define metabolic unhealth. The TyG index showed the highest agreement with kappa values of 0.603 and 0.605 for men and women between the components of metabolic syndrome and three indices. Conclusions We propose that the TyG index, just read in one blood laboratory test report, is simpler and more suitable for the identification of metabolically unhealthy individuals as well as who have high risk of cardiometabolic diseases of the Chinese adult population.