The significance of ratio between serum triglycerides and HDL cholesterol as a common man’s bio marker of insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes mellitus: A cross sectional comparative study

Introduction: Insulin resistance is the most common abnormality associated with obesity, as a major pathophysiological factor in the development and progression of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus. This study is undertaken to know the significance of ratio of triglycerides (TG) to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol as a serum biomarker in assessing the insulin resistance compared to homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) subjects. Materials and methods: This was a cross sectional comparative study done at Mysore Medical College and Research Institute, Mysuru on 180 subjects of type 2 DM from April 2022 to October 2022. The blood sample was subjected for laboratory tests, such as complete blood count (CBC), fasting blood sugar (FBS), post prandial blood sugar (PPBS), HbA1c, lipid profile, ECG, serum insulin level and HOMA-IR, renal function tests (RFT), liver function tests (LFT). The results were tabulated and compared between the HOMA-IR value and triglycerides/HDL cholesterol ratio of type 2 DM subjects. The cut off value of HOMA-IR to assess insulin resistance was 2.50 and triglycerides to HDL ratio was 3.0. Results: The majority of patients i.e. 112(62.22%) had TG/HDL ratio of >3.0 and 116(64.44%) patients had HOMA-IR of >2.5.The patients with uncontrolled type 2 DM had significantly higher TG/HDL ratio [p value 0.01] and HOMA-IR (p value- 0.01). Conclusion: This study concludes that, the ratio of serum triglycerides /HDL cholesterol is a cost effective blood biomarker and it’s correlating significantly with the HOMA-IR and serum fasting insulin levels, while assessing the insulin resistance in type 2 DM subjects.