Triglyceride-glucose index-A novel metabolism disorder biomarker as a promising indicator for predicting postoperative 30-day infections in elderly patients undergoing gastrointestinal-related abdominal and pelvic surgery.

BACKGROUND

The triglyceride-glucose index, a reliable surrogate biomarker of insulin resistance, has been reported to be associated with cardiovascular events and atherosclerosis. However, few studies have investigated the association of the triglyceride-glucose index with postoperative infections. This study aimed to study the clinical risk values of the preoperative triglyceride-glucose index in postoperative infection complications in elderly patients undergoing gastrointestinal-related abdominal and pelvic surgery.

METHODS

This retrospective cohort study included 3,225 older patients who underwent gastrointestinal-related abdominal and pelvic surgery between 2014 and 2019. The patients were divided into groups of triglyceride-glucose index ≤8.268 and triglyceride-glucose index >8.268 according to the optimal triglyceride-glucose index cut-off value. The outcome of interest was postoperative infections within 30 days after surgery. Primary and subgroup analyses were performed to confirm that preoperative triglyceride-glucose index qualifies as a reliable, independent risk indicator. Propensity score matching analysis was further applied to address covariates' potential residual confounding effect and test the robustness of the results.

RESULTS

In this study, the median age was 71 years (interquartile range, 67, 75 years), the proportion of male patients was 66.3%, and 1,058 (32.8%) were infected within 30 days after surgery. A triglyceride-glucose index >8.268 was associated with an increased risk of postoperative infections in multivariate regression analysis (odds ratio, 1.37; 95% confidence interval, 1.15-1.64; P < .001). The correlation between the triglyceride-glucose index and postoperative infections remained significantly robust (odds ratio, 1.52; 95% confidence interval, 1.21-1.92; P < .001) in the propensity score matching analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

The triglyceride-glucose index elevation determined by the optimal cutoff value of 8.268 was an independent risk factor for developing postoperative infections.