A prospective study was done to unearth the risk factors which best predict the metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a great concern as it escalates the risk of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. It included 363 men and 227 women from an urban Chinese population in Chengdu, Sichuan province. The participants were subjected to serial evaluation and completed a survey in 1992 and in 2007.

The study found that the product of triglycerides and glucose index (TyG) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) accounted for 68.6% of the risk for developing metabolic syndrome. After adjustments had been made with respect to age, gender, smoking, drinking, physical exercise, and components of metabolic syndrome, TyG-WHtR appeared to be the strongest predictor (odds ratio 5.63). Further, after considering the adjustment, TyG-WHtR and TyG index when combined with waist circumference (TyG-WC) were the only predictors of metabolic syndrome in both genders. The odds ratios for TyG-WHtR were 9.14 (P < .001) in men and 3.18 (P = .005) in women.

In all the participants, TyG-WHtR emerged as the most prominent predictor with a rate of 68.6% of the risk for metabolic syndrome (AUC 0.686), followed by TyG-WC (AUC 0.660), TyG-WHpR (AUC 0.564), and TyG-index alone (AUC 0.556). The study concluded that TyG-WHtR was the best parameter to predict the risk of metabolic syndrome in the studied community. Obesity measures along with the TyG index were superior parameters in evaluating the risk of metabolic syndrome among both the genders. (Medscape, March 10, 2022)