Assessing the Diagnostic Performance of Triglyceride–Glucose–Based Indices for Early Detection of Metabolic Syndrome in Paediatric Down Syndrome
Valeria Calcaterra, Lucia Labati, Alessandra Anna Gazzarri, Alice De Lorenzo, Ilaria Anna Maria Scavone, Gianvincenzo ZuccottiABSTRACT
Background
Down syndrome (DS) youth have an increased risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS). This study assessed the diagnostic performance of the triglyceride–glucose index (TyG) and its derivatives—TyG‐BMI, TyG‐waist circumference (WC) and TyG‐waist‐to‐height ratio (WHtR) in detecting MetS compared with traditional markers.
Methods
We retrospectively analysed data from 60 DS patients and 40 controls; IR was estimated using HOMA‐IR, TyG, TyG‐BMI, TyG‐WC and TyG‐WHtR indices. MetS was defined by the presence of at least three of the following criteria: BMI z ‐score ≥ 2 SD and/or WC/H ratio ≥ 0.5; fasting glucose > 100 mg/dL and/or pathological HOMA‐IR; dyslipidaemia; hypertension.
Results
MetS prevalence was 15% in DS. HOMA‐IR showed the highest sensitivity (0.667) and specificity (0.80) to detect MetS, while TyG demonstrated similar performance (sensitivity 0.667; specificity 0.843) and the best overall accuracy (0.817). Composite indices showed moderate accuracy but high specificity.
Conclusions
TyG, being simple and cost‐effective, may be a valuable alternative for early MetS detection in DS.