Relationship between triglyceride glucose-waist circumference and depressive symptoms in Chinese older adults: The China health and retirement longitudinal study

The aim of this study was to investigate the horizontal association between triglyceride glucose waist circumference (TyG-WC) and depressive symptoms, and the underlying mechanisms. A sample of 17708 adults aged ≥45 years from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS) was analyzed. Logistic regression was used to assess the impact of adverse experiences. Subgroup analysis and quartile analysis were performed simultaneously. Boruta analyzed the correlations between age and alcohol consumption and TyG-WC and depression. Depressed group and non-depressed group showed considerable differences in age, education, marriage, sleep, platelet, hemoglobin, creatinine, uric acid, hypertension, heart disease, memory disorder, BMI, smoking, alcohol consumption, and stroke ( P <0.05). The results showed that the higher the TyG-WC level, the lower the risk of Depression. TyG-WC showed significant interactions withsex ( P interaction =0.023) and alcohol consumption ( P interaction =0.032), but no significant interactions with other confounding variables. Finally, analysis suggested that age and alcohol consumption were important variables associated with TyG-WC and depression( P <0.05). Our research found that a nonlinear correlation was discovered in China between TyG-WC and depression. Factors such as age, education, marital status, sleep quality, platelet count, hemoglobin levels, creatinine levels, uric acid levels, hypertension, heart disease, memory issues, BMI, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, and history of stroke were linked to depression risk. Among these factors, alcohol consumption emerged as a significant independent variable. Detecting and addressing these risk factors promptly could potentially lower depression rates and offer significant clinical advantages to individuals.