The importance of assessing the triglyceride-glucose index (TyG) in patients with depression: A systematic review

Abstract

Insulin resistance (IR) has been proposed as a potential risk factor for depression, a major common disorder affecting a significant proportion of adults worldwide. Based on this premise, this study systematically investigated all the studies examining the triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index, a surrogate marker of IR, in patients with depression or suicidal ideas/attempts. Four online databases (PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science) were comprehensively searched. After screening, seven studies were included, comprised of 58,981 participants and 46.4% male. While there were some discrepancies among the reports of studies, most of the included studies reported higher levels of TyG index in patients with depression. Moreover, in most cases, a 1-unit increase in the TyG index was associated with significantly higher odds of depression. At last, higher TyG levels were associated with suicidal ideation and attempts. Therefore, this study emphasizes the critical need to further research in this regard and possibly integrate the TyG index measure with routine depression screening to avoid fatal events in the future.