Abstract
Objective: Early detection of insulin resistance is important in preventing the onset of diabetes mellitus. However, few corporations measure insulin levels, a basic parameter for calculation of insulin resistance, as a basic item of health check-ups. Instead, TG and HDL-C are measured by most corporations. Therefore, first, we examined whether the TG/HDL-C ratio is useful as a surrogate marker of insulin resistance. Second, we investigated retrospectively whether the TG/HDL-C ratio is a risk marker for the onset of diabetes mellitus in the same individuals during ten years follow-up.
Methods: Men and women were divided into quartiles on the basis of their TG/HDL-C ratio. The 25% of the population with highest TG/HDL-C ratio was defined as abnormal, and values for homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were compared between this quartile and the remaining three quartiles. The onset of diabetes mellitus during 10 years was also compared between them.
Results: The more insulin resistance increased, the higher the level of the TG/HDL-C ratio. The onset of diabetes mellitus was 2 times higher in the highest TG/HDL-C ratio group than the remaining groups. The Cox proportional hazard model showed that TG/HDL-C ratio was an independent risk marker for the onset of diabetes mellitus.
Conclusions: The TG/HDL-C ratio may serve as a simple and clinically useful approach in identifying insulin resistance and increased diabetes mellitus risk.
