Triglyceride glucose index combined with plaque characteristics as a novel biomarker for cardiovascular outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention in ST-elevated myocardial infarction patients: an intravascular optical coherence tomography study

BACKGROUND AND AIM: This prospective study explored plaque morphology according to the underlying culprit lesion pathology (rupture versus erosion) in relation to the triglyceride glucose (TyG) index in patients with acute ST-elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI) who underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention and optical coherence tomography (OCT) for culprit lesions to elucidate the effects of the TyG index and type of plaque on the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs). METHODS AND OUTCOMES: A total of 274 patients with STEMI aged ≥ 18 years who underwent pre-intervention OCT imaging of culprit lesions between March 2017 and March 2019 were enrolled. The TyG index was calculated using the formula ln[fasting TG (mg/dL) × fasting glucose (mg/dL)/2]. Patients with plaque rupture (PR) and plaque erosion (PE) were divided into three groups across the TyG tertiles. MACEs were defined as a composite of all-cause death, myocardial infarction (MI) recurrence, and ischaemic stroke. In fully adjusted analyses, the middle tertile of TyG was significantly associated with greater rates of MACEs in patients with PR but not in those with PE (relative to the low tertile, HR [hazard ratio], 6.01; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.25–28.88; P = 0.025). Cox regression models indicated a significantly higher HR for MACEs in patients in the middle tertile of TyG than in those in the low tertile of TyG after full additional adjustment (HR, 5.45; 95% CI, 1.10–27.09; P = 0.038). However, being in the high tertile of TyG independently and significantly increased the risk of major bleeding events among patients with PE (HR, 2.50; 95% CI, 1.11–5.65; P = 0.028). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for predicting MACEs to evaluate the diagnostic value of the TyG index combined with the morphological characteristics of plaque after full adjustment was 0.881 (sensitivity = 94.74%, specificity = 78.04%, cut-off level = 0.73). Kaplan–Meier curves were generated for the cumulative incidence of MACEs for up to a median of 1.98 years stratified by tertiles of TyG among the PR and PE subgroups. Among patients with PR, there were significant differences among the tertiles of TyG (p = 0.030). CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE: Microstructural OCT features of culprit lesions in combination with the TyG index, a surrogate estimate of insulin resistance, can be used in clinical practice to support risk stratification and predict adverse events in patients with STEMI. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12933-021-01321-7.