High triglyceride-glucose index predicts cardiovascular events in patients with coronary bifurcation lesions: a large-scale cohort study

Background Coronary bifurcation lesion, as a complex coronary lesion, is associated with higher risk of long-term poor prognosis than non-bifurcation lesions. The triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index has been shown to predict cardiovascular (CV) events in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). However, the prognostic value of the TyG index in patients with bifurcation lesions who are at high risk of CV events remains undetermined. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association between the TyG index and CV events in patients with bifurcation lesions.Methods A total of 4530 consecutive patients with angiography-proven CAD and bifurcation lesions were included in this study from January 2017 to December 2018. The TyG index was calculated as Ln [fasting triglyceride (mg/dL) x fasting plasma glucose (mg/dL)/2]. Patients were assigned into 3 groups according to TyG tertiles (T) (T1: <8.633; T2: 8.633-9.096 and T3: >= 9.096). The primary endpoint was CV events, including CV death, nonfatal myocardial infarction and nonfatal stroke at 3-year follow-up. Restricted cubic spline (RCS) analysis, Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazard models were used to investigate the associations between the TyG index and study endpoints.Results During a median follow-up of 3.1 years, 141 (3.1%) CV events occurred. RCS analysis demonstrated a linear relationship between the TyG index and events after adjusting for age and male sex (non-linear P = 0.262). After multivariable adjustments, elevated TyG index (both T2 and T3) was significantly associated with the risk of CV events (hazard ratio [HR], 1.68; 95% confidence interval [CI],1.06-2.65; HR, 2.10; 95%CI, 1.28-3.47, respectively). When study patients were further stratified according to glycemic status, higher TyG index was associated with significantly higher risk of CV events in diabetic patients after adjusting for confounding factors (T3 vs. T1; HR, 2.68; 95%CI, 1.17-6.11). In addition, subgroup analysis revealed consistent associations of the TyG index with 3-year CV events across various subgroups. Furthermore, adding the TyG index to the original model significantly improved the predictive performance.Conclusions High TyG index was associated with CV events in patients with bifurcation lesions, suggesting the TyG index could help in risk stratification and prognosis in this population.

Automated summary

This study investigated the association between the TyG index and cardiovascular events in patients with bifurcation lesions. The results showed that a high TyG index was associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events, especially in diabetic patients. Therefore, the TyG index can be used for risk stratification and prognosis in patients with bifurcation lesions.