Correlation study of triglyceride-glucose index and plaque burden and characteristics of vulnerable plaque based on coronary CT angiography plaque quantitative analysis / 中华放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the relationship between triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index with plaque components, plaque burden and characteristics of vulnerable plaque using coronary plaque analysis based on coronary artery computed tomography (CCTA).Methods:A total of 498 patients(male 296, female 202), the age ranged from 33 to 87 (63±9) years who underwent CCTA from January 2020 to September in Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University were included. The enrolled patients were divided into three groups according to the tertiles of TyG index T 1 group (the lowest one-third), T 2 group (middle one-third) and T 3 group (the highest one-third). The plaque burden, volume and ratio of calcified, lipid and fibrous components of plaques as well as the incidence of vulnerable plaques were measured based on CCTA images. Chi-square test, ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to compare whether the differences of indexes among the three groups were statistically significant. Multiple stepwise regression was used to analyze the influencing factors of coronary atherosclerotic plaque burden and multiple logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factors of CT high-risk plaque. Finally, ROC curve was used to evaluate the value of TyG index in the diagnosis of CT high-risk plaque, and the best diagnostic threshold of TyG index was determined. Results:The plaque burden, non-calcified plaque volume and ratio had positive relationship with TyG index ( P<0.001).TyG index was significantly correlated with plaque burden according to multiple stepwise regression analysis (regression coefficient 7.267, P<0.001). The results of CT vulnerable characteristics of plaques showed that positive remodeling, low-attenuation plaque sign and the incidence of vulnerable plaque increased with TyG index ( P<0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that TyG index was an independent risk factor for CT vulnerable plaque(OR=2.324,95 %CI 1.533-3.523, P<0.001). The cut-off value of TyG index that can predict vulnerable plaque was 8.43(sensitivity 77.24%, specificity 45.60%, AUC 0.645, P<0.001). Conclusions:With the increase of TyG index, the burden of coronary atherosclerosis plaque and the incidence of CT vulnerable plaque increased. TyG index is expected to be a simple and effective predictor of cardiovascular disease and adverse cardiovascular events.