Indirect methods for assessing insulin resistance in metabolic syndrome

Indirect methods for assessing insulin resistance in metabolic syndrome

I.V. Madyanov

Chuvash State University named after I.N. Ulyanov, Cheboksary

Chuvash Republic Postgraduate Doctors’ Training Institute, Cheboksary

Aim: to study the possibility of using calculated indices based on the results of determining routine clinical laboratory parameters for assessing insulin resistance (IR) in metabolic syndrome (MS).

Patients and Methods: the study included 77 subjects with MS who met the criteria of the International Diabetes Federation (2005). The following parameters were measured in all subjects: height, body weight, waist circumference, and fasting blood levels of insulin, glucose, triglycerides (TG), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL–C). On the basis of the studied parameters, the insulin-based and non-insulin-based IR indices were determined using generally accepted formulas. Insulin-based indices included the following: HOMA-IR, Caro, QUICKI; non-insulin-based included: TG/HDL–C, visceral obesity, lipid accumulation, triglyceride-glucose (TyG) and metabolic indices. Association between these indices was estimated using the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (rs).

Results: it was shown that all calculated non-insulin-based indices significantly weakly and moderately correlated with H OMA-IR index. 4 out of 5 of these indices (excluding the TyG index) were significantly associated with QUICKI index. However, none of the non-insulin-based indices showed a statistically significant association with Caro index. Non-insulin-based indices were paired with HOMA-IR index approximately equally (the range of rs fluctuations was 0.25–0.34). Based on the ratio of TG to HDL–C, the simplest by definition and calculation IR index had a moderate correlation coefficient with HOMA-IR index equal to 0.33 (p=0.005).

Conclusion: non-insulin-based IR indices calculated on the basis of routine clinical laboratory parameters cannot be fully used to assess IR in MS during the work of general practitioner. It is necessary to continue the search for other (more accurate) non-insulin-based methods for diagnosing IR in subjects with MS.

Keywords: metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, IR indices, HOMA-IR, TG/HDL–C index.

For citation: Madyanov I.V. Indirect methods for assessing insulin resistance in metabolic syndrome. RMJ. 2021;2:10–12.