Optimal cutoff of the triglyceride to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol  ratio to detect cardiovascular risk factors among Han adults in Xinjiang

BACKGROUND: To determine whether TG/HDL-C ratio, which has been shown to be an indicator of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and insulin resistance (IR), can predict cardiovascular risk factors in the Chinese Han population in Xinjiang. METHODS: The cardiovascular risk survey (CRS) was conducted from October 2007 to March 2010. A total of 14,618 representative participants were selected using a four-stage stratified sampling method. A total of 5757 Han participants were included in the study. The present statistical analysis was restricted to the 5595 Han subjects who had complete anthropometric data. The sensitivity, specificity, and distance on the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve in each TG/HDL level were calculated. The shortest distance in the ROC curves was used to determine the optimal cutoff of the TG/HDL-C ratio for detecting cardiovascular risk factors. RESULTS: The prevalence of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertriglyceridemia was higher with higher TG/HDL-C ratio for both men and women. The TG/HDL-C ratio was positively associated with systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and serum concentrations of total cholesterol. The optimal TG/HDL-C ratio cutoffs for predicting hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, and ≥2 of these risk factors for Han adults in Xinjiang were 1.3, 1.3, 1.4, and 1.4 in men and 0.9, 1.0, 1.0, and 1.1 in women, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The evaluation of TG/HDL-C ratio should be considered for one of cardiovascular risk factor predictors among Han adults in Xinjiang.