The following is the summary of “Triglyceride-glucose index as a novel marker associated with sarcopenia in non-diabetic patients on maintenance hemodialysis” published in the December 2022 issue of Renal failure by Chen, et al.

Patients with chronic renal failure frequently experience sarcopenia due to the condition. In addition, patients on maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) who do not have diabetes often develop insulin resistance, which is a major contributor to the development of sarcopenia. In clinical practice, the triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index is commonly employed because of its reliability in assessing insulin resistance. This study looked at how patients without diabetes receiving MHD fared regarding the TyG index and sarcopenia.

Patients without diabetes who underwent MHD at their facility had their relevant clinical data obtained. TyG index=ln(fasting triglycerides (mg/dL)× fasting blood glucose (mg/dL) 2. The correlations were weighed using multivariate logistic regression analyses. In addition, the prognostic power of the TyG index in sarcopenia was examined using the receiver-operating characteristic curve. 75 (52.82%) of the 142 patients included were male; the mean age was 54.05 ± 13.97 years; and 40 (28.17%) met the diagnostic criteria for sarcopenia. Sarcopenia was associated with a higher TyG index (8.83 ± 0.45 vs. 8.49 ± 0.50, P<0.001) among study participants. 

Tertile 3 (43.75%) had the highest prevalence of sarcopenia compared to tertile 1 (8.51%) and 2 (31.91%). The TyG index was found to be a significant risk factor for sarcopenia in a logistic regression analysis (odds ratio, 4.21 [95% confidence interval, 1.85-9.59], P=0.001]). The TyG index may be employed as a novel marker to reflect the existence of sarcopenia in non-diabetic individuals undergoing MHD, as a rise in the index was associated with an increased risk of sarcopenia.

Source: tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0886022X.2022.2128373