Association between triglyceride-glucose index and risk of cardiovascular disease among postmenopausal women

Objective: We aimed to examine the association of triglyceride-glucose index (TyG) with risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) among postmenopausal women.

Methods: A total of 7741 participants met the inclusion criteria, and were included in the analysis. The TyG index was calculated as ln (triglyceride [mg/dL] × fasting blood glucose [mg/dL]/2). The participants were classified into four groups by the quartiles of TyG index, and the Q1 group was used as the reference group. The cumulative incidence of CVD for the groups were compared using the Kaplan-Meier curves. The association between the TyG index and risk of CVD among postmenopausal women was assessed by the Cox proportional hazards models (hazard ratio [HR], 95% confidence intervals [CI]).

Results: During a median follow-up of 12 years, a total of 383 (4.95%) participants developed incident CVD. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, a high baseline TyG index (Q4 group) was associated with higher future risk of CVD, the HR (95% CI) of CVD risk was 1.70 (1.21-2.38) in Q4 group compared with the Q1 group. Subgroup analyses showed the Q4 group was significantly associated with the risk of CVD, regardless of age at menopause (younger than 50 years; 50 years and older) and obesity status.

Conclusions: Higher TyG index at baseline as a marker of insulin resistance (IR), is associated with higher risk of future CVD among postmenopausal women. The TyG index may serve as a simple and easy marker for early identification of high-risk individuals in the postmenopausal women.