Triglycerides/glucose index is a useful surrogate marker of insulin resistance among adolescents

• Published in: International Journal of Obesity Vol. 41; no. 5; pp. 789 - 792
• Main Authors: Kang, B, Yang, Y, Lee, E Y, Yang, H K, Kim, H-S, Lim, S-Y, Lee, J-H, Lee, S-S, Suh, B-K, Yoon, K-H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.05.2017; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 692/163/2743/393; 692/53; 692/700/139; 692/700/1720; Adolescent; Adolescent Health; Adolescents; Asian Continental Ancestry Group; Biomarkers - blood; Blood Glucose - metabolism; Blood pressure; Body fat; Body Mass Index; Body size; Child; Cholesterol; Cost-Benefit Analysis; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diabetes; Endocrinology; Epidemiology; Fasting; Female; Glucose; Health aspects; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; High density lipoprotein; Homeostasis; Hospitals; Humans; Insulin; Insulin resistance; Insulin Resistance - physiology; Internal Medicine; Laboratories; Lipoproteins; Male; Markers; Medical schools; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Metabolism; Nutrition Surveys; Obesity; original-article; Pediatric Obesity - complications; Pediatric Obesity - epidemiology; Pediatric Obesity - prevention & control; Plasma; Predictive Value of Tests; Public Health; Reference Values; Republic of Korea - epidemiology; Teenagers; Triglycerides; Triglycerides - blood; Youth; Germany
• ISSN: 0307-0565; 1476-5497
• DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2017.14

Objectives: Our aim was to investigate the association between the triglycerides/glucose index (TyG index) and the homeostasis model assessment-estimated insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in the prediction of insulin resistance (IR) among adolescents. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among 221 Korean adolescents (168 males and 53 females aged 9–13 years) from May to June 2014 in Chung-ju city. The TyG index was calculated as ln [triglycerides (mg dl −1 ) × fasting glucose (mg dl −1 )/2]. IR was defined using HOMA-IR >95th percentile for age and sex. Results: In the IR group, weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, body fat, fasting insulin, fasting plasma glucose, triglyceride levels and triglycerides/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) were significantly higher than that in the non-IR group. The TG index was significantly different between the IR group ( n =22) and non-IR group ( n =199), at 8.43±0.45 and 8.05±0.41, respectively ( P <0.001). The TyG index was well correlated with HOMA-IR ( r =0.41; P <0.001) and showed a strong positive association with TG/HDL-C ( r =0.84; P <0.001). The cut-off of the TyG index for diagnosis of insulin resistance was 8.18. Conclusions: The TyG index is a simple, cost-effective surrogate marker of insulin resistance among adolescents compared with HOMA-IR.