The Association Between Epicardial Adipose Tissue Thickness and the Triglyceride-glucose Index in Prediabetic Obese Patients

Obesity and pre-diabetes are metabolic disorders associated with insulin resistance (IR). Excess epicardial adipose tissue is also associated with increased IR. The triglyceride-glucose index (TyG) has been evaluated as an alternative measure of the IR in a variety of metabolic and cardiovascular disorders. However, its relationship with EAT thickness has not been studied yet. The study included 176 prediabetic and obese patients. EAT thickness was assessed using echocardiography. EAT thickness, TyG index, anthropometric obesity indices (body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist-hip ratio (WHR)), homeostatic model assessment (HOMA-IR), and biochemical parameters were compared. The following correlations between EAT thickness and related parameters were observed: WC (<i>r</i> = .529), BMI (<i>r</i> = .514), ALT (<i>r</i> = .358), TyG index (<i>r</i> = .338), and HOMA-IR (<i>r</i> = .322; <i>P</i> < .001 for all). Multiple regression analysis showed that WC (Beta = .428; <i>P</i> = .004), age (Beta = .223; <i>P</i> < .001), BMI (Beta = .196; <i>P</i> = .029), ALT (Beta = .168; <i>P</i> = .012), and TyG index (Beta = .128; <i>P</i> = .049) were the strongest independent variables correlated with EAT thickness. A model based on WC, BMI, age, TyG index, and ALT provided the best <i>R</i>-square (.387) for estimating EAT thickness (<i>P</i> < .001). The TyG index showed a significant and independent relationship with EAT, suggesting that it may be useful as an indicator of EAT thickness.