Risk prediction of the metabolic syndrome using TyG Index and SNPs: a 10-year longitudinal prospective cohort study

Abstract TyG (triglyceride and glucose) index using triglyceride and fasting blood glucose is recommended as a useful marker for insulin resistance. To clarify whether the TyG index is a marker for predicting the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and to investigate the importance of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in MetS diagnosis. From 2001 to 2014, a longitudinal prospective cohort study of 3,580 adults aged 40 to 70 years was conducted. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROC) and Youden index (YI) were calculated to assess the diagnostic value. During the 14 year follow-up, 1270 subjects developed MetS. Five SNPs in four genes (BUD13 rs10790162, ZPR1 rs2075290, APOA5 rs2266788, APOA5 rs2075291, and MKL1 rs4507196) significantly correlated with susceptibility to MetS (P<0.00005). The areas under the curve of TyG index and HOMA-IR were 0.854 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.841–0.867), and 0.702 (95% CI, 0.684–0.721), respectively. Despite no statistical significance, AUROC and YI were increased when MetS was diagnosed using TyG index and the five SNPs. TyG index might be useful for identifying individuals at high risk of developing MetS. The combination of TyG index and SNPs showed better diagnostic accuracy than TyG index alone, indicating the potential value of novel SNPs for MetS diagnosis.