Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is associated with increased insulin resistance. Triglyceride-glucose
index (TyG) is a simple marker of insulin resistance; however, it has been investigated
only by two studies in OSA. The aim of this study was to evaluate TyG in non-diabetic,
non-obese patients with OSA. A total of 132 patients with OSA and 49 non-OSA control
subjects were included. Following a diagnostic sleep test, fasting blood was taken
for the analysis of the lipid profile and glucose concentrations. TyG was calculated
as ln(triglyceride [mg/dL] x glucose [mg/dL]/2). Comparison analyses between OSA and
control groups were adjusted for age, gender, body mass index (BMI) and smoking. TyG
was higher in men (p < 0.01) and in ever-smokers (p = 0.02) and it was related to
BMI (rho = 0.33), cigarette pack-years (rho = 0.17), apnoea-hypopnoea index (rho =
0.38), oxygen desaturation index (rho = 0.40), percentage of total sleep time spent
with oxygen saturation below 90% (rho = 0.34), and minimal oxygen saturation (rho
= -0.29; all p < 0.05). TyG values were significantly higher in OSA (p = 0.02) following
adjustment for covariates. OSA is independently associated with higher TyG values
which are related to disease severity in non-obese, non-diabetic subjects. However,
the value of TyG in clinical practice should be evaluated in follow-up studies in
patients with OSA.
