Triglyceride-glucose index (TyG index) is associated with a higher risk of colorectal adenoma and multiple adenomas in asymptomatic subjects

Ziyue Zhu; Thomas Yuen Tung Lam; Raymond Shing Yan Tang; Sunny Hei Wong; Rashid Nok Shun Lui; Simon Siu Man Ng; Samuel Yeung Shan Wong; Joseph Jao Yiu Sung

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0310526

Triglyceride-glucose index (TyG index) is associated with a higher risk of colorectal adenoma and multiple adenomas in asymptomatic subjects

PLoS One. 2024 Nov 7;19(11):e0310526. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0310526. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Ziyue Zhu¹, Thomas Yuen Tung Lam^{2

3}, Raymond Shing Yan Tang³, Sunny Hei Wong⁴, Rashid Nok Shun Lui³, Simon Siu Man Ng³, Samuel Yeung Shan Wong⁵, Joseph Jao Yiu Sung⁴

Affiliations

¹ Stanley Ho Big Data Decision Analytics Research Centre, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong.
² The Nethersole School of Nursing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong.
³ Institute of Digestive Disease, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong.
⁴ Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
⁵ The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong.

Abstract

Hypothesis: The objective of this study is to evaluate the predictive ability of the TyG index for the presence of adenoma and multiple adenomas in an asymptomatic population.

Design: A secondary analysis was conducted on a prospective cohort of asymptomatic subjects aged between 50 and 75 who underwent CRC screening. Fasting blood glucose (FBG) and lipid profiles were measured within three months prior colonoscopy. TyG index was estimated as ln [fasting triglycerides (mg/dL) × FBG (mg/dL)/2]. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to assess the association between the TyG index and the risk of adenoma. Its association with multiple adenomas (≥5) and the continuous number of adenomas were assessed by multinomial regression and log-normal linear regression, respectively.

Results: A total of 1,538 subjects were recruited among which 876 subjects (57%) had at least one adenoma detected. Elevated TyG index was positively associated with the incidence of adenoma (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.26, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.04-1.54). Compared with the lowest TyG index (≤ 8) group, the risk of adenoma was the highest among subjects in the highest TyG index (> 10) group (aOR: 3.36, 95% CI: 1.44-7.73). As compared to the non-adenoma group, the TyG index was also positively associated with multiple adenomas (aOR: 1.74, 95% CI: 1.17-2.57), and the estimate was also the highest in the highest TyG group (aOR: 14.49, 95% CI: 3.12-67.20). As for the number of adenomas, the positive association was maintained (Estimates: 1.06, 95% CI: 1.01-1.12) while the number of adenomas increase the most in the highest TyG index group (Estimates: 1.35, 95% CI: 1.10-1.65).

Conclusions: Elevated TyG index is associated with an increased risk of colorectal adenoma and an increased number of adenomas for asymptomatic subjects aged ≥50.

Trial registration: This study was registered on clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03597204 and NCT04034953).

Copyright: © 2024 Zhu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Clinical Study

MeSH terms

Adenoma* / blood
Adenoma* / diagnosis
Adenoma* / epidemiology
Aged
Blood Glucose* / analysis
Colonoscopy
Colorectal Neoplasms* / blood
Colorectal Neoplasms* / diagnosis
Colorectal Neoplasms* / epidemiology
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Prospective Studies
Risk Factors
Triglycerides* / blood

Substances

Blood Glucose
Triglycerides

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT03597204
ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT04034953

Grants and funding

The studies are fully funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust (Ref. no.: 2018/0043). URL: https://charities.hkjc.com/charities/english/charities-trust/index.aspx. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.