Joint association of triglyceride-glucose index and Chinese visceral adiposity index with prevalent diabetes: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND

Diabetes mellitus is strongly associated with insulin resistance and visceral adiposity. Recent studies have demonstrated that the triglyceride-glucose index (TyG) and the Chinese visceral adiposity index (CVAI), which reflect insulin resistance and visceral adiposity, are linked to elevated odds of diabetes. However, the combined use of TyG and CVAI for identifying diabetes remains underexplored. This study aimed to investigate the relationship among TyG, CVAI, and their joint association with prevalent diabetes.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study included 11,495 participants from the 2023 Shenzhen Chronic Diseases and Risk Factors Surveillance Survey. A structured questionnaire survey, physical examinations, and fasting blood sample collection were conducted for all participants. Logistic regression models were used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Restricted cubic spline (RCS) was employed to assess potential nonlinear relationships (all P for nonlinear <0.001).

RESULTS

The study identified 831 participants with diabetes. After adjusting for confounders, TyG (OR: 4.48, 95% CI: 3.66-5.52) and CVAI (OR: 6.02, 95% CI: 3.69-10.05) were independently associated with the odds of diabetes. Nonlinear relationships were observed for both TyG and CVAI (all P for nonlinear <0.001). The combination of TyG and CVAI demonstrated the highest discriminative ability (AUC: 0.785, 95% CI: 0.771-0.799), outperforming TyG alone (AUC: 0.769, 95% CI: 0.754-0.785) and CVAI alone (AUC: 0.744, 95% CI: 0.729-0.759).

CONCLUSION

Elevated TyG and CVAI levels, as well as their combined use, were significantly associated with increased odds of diabetes. These findings suggest that TyG, CVAI, and their combination may serve as simple and effective tools for diabetes risk stratification, enabling targeted prevention and management strategies for high-risk populations.