Triglyceride-glucose index as a mediator of body mass index and cardiovascular disease in middle-aged and older Chinese adults: a nationally representative longitudinal cohort study

BackgroundBody mass index (BMI) consistently correlates with the triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index, a marker of insulin resistance, which in turn is linked to heightened cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Thus, insulin resistance could potentially mediate the association between BMI and CVD risk. How...

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Main Authors: Ying-Yuan Gan, Lu Zhai, Qian Liao, Rong-Rui Huo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2024-12-01
Series:Frontiers in Endocrinology
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2024.1431087/full
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author Ying-Yuan Gan
Lu Zhai
Qian Liao
Rong-Rui Huo
author_facet Ying-Yuan Gan
Lu Zhai
Qian Liao
Rong-Rui Huo
author_sort Ying-Yuan Gan
collection DOAJ
description BackgroundBody mass index (BMI) consistently correlates with the triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index, a marker of insulin resistance, which in turn is linked to heightened cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Thus, insulin resistance could potentially mediate the association between BMI and CVD risk. However, few studies have explored this mechanism in the general population.MethodsWe used data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, which is an ongoing prospective cohort study. It initially enrolled 7233 middle-aged and older Chinese adults who were free of heart disease and stroke at baseline. The exposure variable was BMI. Incident CVD, defined as self-reported physician-diagnosed heart disease and stroke combined, served as the main outcome.ResultsOf the 7 233 participants (mean [SD] age, 58.93 [9.33] years), 3 415 (47.2%) were men. During the 7 years of follow-up, 1 411 incident CVD cases were identified. Both BMI and TyG index were associated with CVD risk (HR per 1-SD increase: BMI, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.17–1.29; TyG, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.07–1.19). The 4-way decomposition analysis show that, overweight increased CVD risk by 28% (HR [total association], 1.28; 95% CI, 1.14–1.45), with 18.1% (95% CI, 2.2%–34.0%) mediated by TyG index (HR [pure indirect association], 1.05; 95% CI, 1.02–1.09); while obesity increased CVD risk by 91% (HR [total association], 1.91; 95% CI, 1.63–2.23), with 9.5% (95% CI, 2.2%–16.7%) mediated by TyG index (HR [pure indirect association], 1.09; 95% CI, 1.03–1.15). No evidence suggested TyG index modified BMI’s association with incident CVD.ConclusionsThe study revealed that the TyG index was associated to CVD risk and acted as a small partial mediator in the relationship between BMI and CVD among middle-aged and older Chinese adults. Consequently, solely addressing insulin resistance might not significantly mitigate the impact of body weight on CVD. Thus, exploring alternative pathways and potential mediators of CVD risk becomes imperative.
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spelling doaj-art-8ee30a66d82a46ceac039943e2077f462024-12-23T05:10:15ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Endocrinology1664-23922024-12-011510.3389/fendo.2024.14310871431087Triglyceride-glucose index as a mediator of body mass index and cardiovascular disease in middle-aged and older Chinese adults: a nationally representative longitudinal cohort studyYing-Yuan Gan0Lu Zhai1Qian Liao2Rong-Rui Huo3Department of Scientific Research, Minzu Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning, ChinaDepartment of Smart Health Elderly Care Services and Management, School of Nursing, Guangxi Health Science College, Nanning, ChinaDepartment of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, ChinaDepartment of Experimental Research, Guangxi Medical University Cancer Hospital, Nanning, ChinaBackgroundBody mass index (BMI) consistently correlates with the triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index, a marker of insulin resistance, which in turn is linked to heightened cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Thus, insulin resistance could potentially mediate the association between BMI and CVD risk. However, few studies have explored this mechanism in the general population.MethodsWe used data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, which is an ongoing prospective cohort study. It initially enrolled 7233 middle-aged and older Chinese adults who were free of heart disease and stroke at baseline. The exposure variable was BMI. Incident CVD, defined as self-reported physician-diagnosed heart disease and stroke combined, served as the main outcome.ResultsOf the 7 233 participants (mean [SD] age, 58.93 [9.33] years), 3 415 (47.2%) were men. During the 7 years of follow-up, 1 411 incident CVD cases were identified. Both BMI and TyG index were associated with CVD risk (HR per 1-SD increase: BMI, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.17–1.29; TyG, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.07–1.19). The 4-way decomposition analysis show that, overweight increased CVD risk by 28% (HR [total association], 1.28; 95% CI, 1.14–1.45), with 18.1% (95% CI, 2.2%–34.0%) mediated by TyG index (HR [pure indirect association], 1.05; 95% CI, 1.02–1.09); while obesity increased CVD risk by 91% (HR [total association], 1.91; 95% CI, 1.63–2.23), with 9.5% (95% CI, 2.2%–16.7%) mediated by TyG index (HR [pure indirect association], 1.09; 95% CI, 1.03–1.15). No evidence suggested TyG index modified BMI’s association with incident CVD.ConclusionsThe study revealed that the TyG index was associated to CVD risk and acted as a small partial mediator in the relationship between BMI and CVD among middle-aged and older Chinese adults. Consequently, solely addressing insulin resistance might not significantly mitigate the impact of body weight on CVD. Thus, exploring alternative pathways and potential mediators of CVD risk becomes imperative.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2024.1431087/fullcardiovascular diseasetriglyceride-glucose indexbody mass indexmediator4-way decomposition approachCHARLS
spellingShingle Ying-Yuan Gan
Lu Zhai
Qian Liao
Rong-Rui Huo
Triglyceride-glucose index as a mediator of body mass index and cardiovascular disease in middle-aged and older Chinese adults: a nationally representative longitudinal cohort study
Frontiers in Endocrinology
cardiovascular disease
triglyceride-glucose index
body mass index
mediator
4-way decomposition approach
CHARLS
title Triglyceride-glucose index as a mediator of body mass index and cardiovascular disease in middle-aged and older Chinese adults: a nationally representative longitudinal cohort study
title_full Triglyceride-glucose index as a mediator of body mass index and cardiovascular disease in middle-aged and older Chinese adults: a nationally representative longitudinal cohort study
title_fullStr Triglyceride-glucose index as a mediator of body mass index and cardiovascular disease in middle-aged and older Chinese adults: a nationally representative longitudinal cohort study
title_full_unstemmed Triglyceride-glucose index as a mediator of body mass index and cardiovascular disease in middle-aged and older Chinese adults: a nationally representative longitudinal cohort study
title_short Triglyceride-glucose index as a mediator of body mass index and cardiovascular disease in middle-aged and older Chinese adults: a nationally representative longitudinal cohort study
title_sort triglyceride glucose index as a mediator of body mass index and cardiovascular disease in middle aged and older chinese adults a nationally representative longitudinal cohort study
topic cardiovascular disease
triglyceride-glucose index
body mass index
mediator
4-way decomposition approach
CHARLS
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2024.1431087/full
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