Comparison of the triglyceride-glucose and McAuley indices in metabolic syndrome in people at risk for type 2 diabetes

The prevalence of high fasting glucose and type 2 diabetes (T2D) is increasing in our country. It is interesting to find insulin resistance indices accessible to the clinical laboratory at low cost. In 74 men and 142 women at risk for T2D, the McAuley and triglyceride-glucose (T -G) indices were analised to: a) determine the McAuley index values and they correlation with the T -G index; b) compare both indices for the detection of metabolic syndrome (MS) and their concordance; c) determine the association with MS components. For McAuley the median was 6.68 and the interquartile range (5.47-8.25) and for T -G it was 8.71 (8.35-9.05) respectively. The correlation between both was r=-0.802, p<0.001. Regarding MS, the areas under the ROC curve were: TG index=0.816 +/- 0.029 (95%CI 0.758-0.873), p<0.001 and for the 1/McAuley index=0.816 +/- 0.030 (95%CI 0.758-0.874) p<0.001. The Kappa agreement between the two indices was 0.630, p<0.001, Chi square 85.74 (p<0.001). For TG and McAuley the sensitivities were 80.7% and 80.7%, the specificities 70.7% and 69.4%, PP+ 62.5% and 62%, PP- 83.9 and 85.3%, the ratios of positive probability (PR+) were 2.65 and 2.64 and negative probability (PR-) were 0.30 and 0.27 respectively. Both were associated with triglycerides >= 150 mg/dL and glucose >= 100 mg/dL and neither with low HDL-C and blood pressure >= 130/85 mmHg or treated. McAuley showed an association with waist >= 102/88 cm (p>0.001). It is concluded that T -G showed acceptable agreement with McAuley and both similar association with SM. T -G could be useful for population studies but further studies are needed for its clinical application.