Prognostic effect of triglyceride glucose-related parameters on all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in the United States adults with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease

Abstract Backgrounds Insulin resistance (IR) plays a vital role in the pathogenesis of the metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). However, it remains unclear whether triglyceride–glucose (TyG) related parameters, which serve as useful biomarkers to assess IR, have prognostic effects on mortality outcomes of MASLD. Methods Participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database from 1999 to 2018 years were included. TyG and its related parameters TyG-waist circumference (TyG-WC) and TyG-waist to height ratio (TyG-WHtR) were calculated. Kaplan–Meier curves, Cox regression analysis, and restricted cubic splines (RCS) were conducted to evaluate the association between TyG-related indices with the all-cause and cardiovascular mortality of adults with MASLD. The concordance index (C-index) was used to evaluate the prediction accuracy of TyG-related indices. Results A total of 8208 adults (4209 men and 3999 women, median age 49.00 years) with MASLD were included in this study. Multivariate-adjusted Cox regression analysis revealed that high quartile levels of TyG-related indices were significantly associated with the all-cause mortality of participants with MASLD TyG adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 1.25, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05–1.50, P = 0.014; TyG-WC aHR for all-cause mortality = 1.28, 95% CI 1.07–1.52, P = 0.006; TyG-WHtR aHR for all-cause mortality = 1.50, 95% CI 1.25–1.80, P < 0.001; TyG-WC aHR for cardiovascular mortality = 1.81, 95% CI 1.28–2.55, P = 0.001; TyG-WHtR aHR for cardiovascular mortality = 2.22, 95% CI 1.55–3.17, P < 0.001. The C-index of TyG-related indices for predicting all-cause mortality was 0.563 for the TyG index, 0.579 for the TyG-WC index, and 0.585 for the TyG-WHtR index, respectively. Regarding cardiovascular mortality, the C-index was 0.561 for the TyG index, 0.607 for the TyG-WC index, and 0.615 for the TyG-WHtR index, respectively. Nonlinear trends were observed between TyG and TyG-WC indices with all-cause mortality of MASLD ( P < 0.001 and = 0.012, respectively). A non-linear relationship was observed between the TyG index and cardiovascular mortality of MASLD ( P = 0.025). Subgroup analysis suggested that adults aged < 65 years old and those without comorbidities were more sensitive to the mortality prediction of TyG-related indices. Conclusion Findings of this study highlight the predictive value of TyG-related indices, especially the TyG-WHtR index, in the mortality outcomes of adults with MASLD. TyG-related indices would be surrogate biomarkers for the clinical management of MASLD.