Association between triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index and the incidence of depression in US adults with diabetes or pre-diabetes

Psychiatry Res. 2024 Dec 15:344:116328. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2024.116328. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

Background: The relationship between the triglyceride glucose (TyG) index and the incidence of depression in populations with diabetes or pre-diabetes remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the association between the TyG index and depression incidence in diabetic/pre-diabetic populations.

Method: Data from the 2005-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were analyzed. After adjustment for confounders, multivariate logistic regression models were fitted to investigate the association between TyG index and depression incidence. Restricted cubic splines (RCS), subgroup analysis, interaction analysis, and mediation analysis were also constructed.

Results: A total of 8,970 participants with diabetes or pre-diabetes were enrolled. The linear positive association between TyG index and the incidence of depression was observed. Insulin resistance partly mediates this association in mediation analysis. There is a U-shape association between TyG index and the incidence of depression in diabetic/pre-diabetic populations whose ethnicity is Other Hispanic (p for nonlinearity =0.0237). Subgroup analysis evaluated the robustness of our findings and interaction analysis showed that this association can be modified by race/ethnicity.

Conclusion: There is a linear positive association between the TyG index and the incidence of depression in populations with diabetes or pre-diabetes.

Keywords: Depression; Insulin resistance; NHANES; TYG index.