Stronger association of triglyceride glucose index than the HOMA-IR with arterial stiffness in patients with type 2 diabetes: a real-world single-centre study

BACKGROUND: The triglyceride-glucose index (TyG index) has been proposed as a simple and reliable alternative insulin resistance (IR) marker, while the homeostasis model assessment for IR (HOMA-IR) is the most frequently used index. Few studies have evaluated the role of IR assessed by the TyG index and HOMA-IR on arterial stiffness in a type 2 diabetes (T2D) population with a high risk of increased arterial stiffness. We aimed to investigate the association of the TyG index and HOMA-IR with arterial stiffness in patients with T2D. METHODS: We recruited 3185 patients with T2D, who underwent brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), an indicator of arterial stiffness, but without previous cardiovascular disease. Increased arterial stiffness was defined as a baPWV value greater than the 75th percentile (18.15 m/s) in the present study. The TyG index was determined as ln(fasting triglycerides [mg/dL] × fasting glucose [mg/dL]/2), and the HOMA-IR was calculated as (fasting insulin [μIU/mL] × fasting glucose [mmol/L])/22.5. RESULTS: The mean age of the study participants was 54.6 ± 12.0 years, and 1954 (61.4%) were men. Seemingly unrelated regression estimation analysis demonstrated that the TyG index had stronger associations with baPWV than the HOMA-IR (all P < 0.001). In the multivariable logistic analyses, each one-unit increase in the TyG index was associated with a 1.40-fold (95% CI 1.16–1.70, P < 0.001) higher prevalence of increased arterial stiffness, but the prominent association of the HOMA-IR with the prevalence of increased arterial stiffness was not observed. Subgroup analyses showed that a more significant association between the TyG index and the prevalence of increased arterial stiffness was detected in older patients with a longer duration of diabetes and poor glycaemic control (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Compared with the HOMA-IR, the TyG index is independently and more strongly associated with arterial stiffness in patients with T2D. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12933-021-01274-x.