Association Between Triglyceride-Glucose Index and Waist-To-Hip Ratio with Type 2 Diabetic Retinopathy in the Chinese Population: A Cross-Sectional Study

ABSTRACT

Background

The triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index serves as a convenient indicator of insulin resistance, which has been demonstrated to be associated with diabetic retinopathy(DR). However, the relationship between TyG-WHR, a novel index combining TyG with the central obesity indicator WHR, and retinopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes remains unclear. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the correlation between TyG-WHR and DR in adult patients with type 2 diabetes.

Methods

This cross-sectional study included 1702 patients with T2DM. Logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the associations between TyG-WHR and DR. Additionally, the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC curve) was utilized to assess the predictive efficacy of TyG-WHR for DR.

Results

Patients in higher TyG-WHR quartiles demonstrated an increased presence of DR, and TyG-WHR increased with the severity of DR. Moreover, TyG-WHR remained significantly associated with a higher odds ratio (OR) for DR (OR 1.223, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.078–1.387, p < 0.05) after multivariate adjustment. Additionally, receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicated that the optimal cutoff value for TyG-WHR in predicting DR presence was 8.8983, with a sensitivity of 61.00%, specificity of 48.50%, and area under the curve (AUC) of 0.555.

Conclusions

In patients with T2DM, TyG-WHR was significantly elevated in those with DR and independently associated with an increased risk of DR presence in Chinese patients. This implies that TyG-WHR could potentially serve as a valuable and dependable biomarker for DR, underscoring the importance of giving greater consideration to T2DM patients with elevated TyG-WHR to effectively prevent and mitigate the onset of DR and associated adverse health outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Insulin resistance
• obesity
• TyG-WHR
• type 2 diabetes mellitus
• diabetic retinopathy

Acknowledgments

Thanks to all the workers who participated in the study.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author Contributions

Yu Wang: Conceived the study, conducted data collection, performed data analysis, and drafted the manuscript. Ying Miao: Conceived the study, conducted data collection, performed data analysis and manuscript drafting. Wan Qin: Oversaw the study design, data analysis, and manuscript drafting. Provided final approval for the submitted version.

Additional information

Funding

This study received funding from the 2019SQN013 project at Southwest Medical University.The Ministry of Science and Technology of China provided funding for this study through grants 2016YFC0901200.This study received funding from the Health Commission of Sichuan Province, Promotion and Application 2023-1501.This study received funding from the Sichuan Provincial Science and Technology Plan Joint Innovation Special Project 2022. Project Number: 2022YFS0612-B2.