Triglyceride–Glucose Index And Glycaemic Control In Adults With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus In North-Central Nigeria: A Cross-Sectional Study

ABSTRACTOptimal glycaemic control is central to the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), but access to glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) testing remains limited in some resource-constrained settings. The triglyceride–glucose (TyG) index, calculated from fasting plasma glucose and triglyceride concentrations, may provide an inexpensive adjunctive measure of glycaemic status. This hospital-based cross-sectional study assessed the relationship between TyG and conventional glycaemic biomarkers among 132 adults with T2DM attending Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi, Nigeria. Fasting plasma glucose, fasting triglycerides and HbA1c were measured using standard laboratory methods, and TyG was calculated as ln[triglyceride (mg/dL) × glucose (mg/dL)/2]. Correlations were assessed using Pearson and Spearman coefficients. Receiver operating characteristic analysis evaluated TyG for identifying poor glycaemic control (HbA1c ≥7.0%), and DeLong's test compared TyG and fasting plasma glucose. Poor glycaemic control was present in 103 (78.0%) participants. Mean TyG was higher in participants with poor than good glycaemic control (9.24 ± 0.57 vs 8.27 ± 0.35; p<0.001). TyG correlated positively with HbA1c (Pearson r=0.567; p<0.001) and fasting plasma glucose (r=0.779; p<0.001). TyG showed good discrimination for poor glycaemic control (AUC 0.932, 95% CI 0.884–0.971), with an optimal cut-off of 8.82 (sensitivity 78.6%, specificity 93.1%). Its AUC was significantly higher than that of fasting plasma glucose (0.872; p=0.044). TyG may therefore serve as a practical adjunctive biomarker of glycaemic control in resource-constrained settings, pending external validation of the population-specific cut-off.