Background: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a major contributor to vision loss and blindness among working-age adults worldwide. While the relationship between the triglyceride glucose (TyG) index and DR in hospitalized patients has been demonstrated, research on the correlation between the triglyceride glucose (TyG) index and DR in ambulatory type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients is still relatively limited.

Methods: A cohort of 398 middle-aged and elderly T2DM patients who underwent outpatient physical examinations at the First People's Hospital of Hefei City between 2012 and 2017 were included in this study. They were categorized into either the nondiabetic retinopathy group (296 cases in the NDR group) or the diabetic retinopathy group (102 cases in the DR group) based on the results of dilated fundus examinations. One-way logistic regression and LR backward multifactorial logistic regression analyses were utilized to identify the risk factors associated with the development of diabetic retinopathy in T2DM patients. Furthermore, the predictive value of the TyG index for diabetic retinopathy in middle-aged and elderly ambulatory T2DM patients was evaluated through stratified regression to adjust for other factors, along with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.

Results: Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the TyG index was identified as an independent risk factor for diabetic retinopathy (DR) in middle-aged and elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) (P < 0.05). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis revealed that the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.585 [95% CI (0.524, 0.646)] (P = 0.011), with an optimal cut-off value of 9.115, corresponding to a sensitivity of 82.4% and specificity of 36.1%.

Conclusion: The TyG index serves as an independent risk factor for diabetic retinopathy (DR) in middle-aged and elderly ambulatory type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients, and it is recommended that this index be used as a reference index in the comprehensive assessment of DR.

Keywords: ambulatory patients; diabetic retinopathy; middle-aged and elderly population; triglyceride glucose index; type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Copyright © 2025 Yao and Liu.

背景： 糖尿病视网膜病变（DR）是全球劳动年龄成年人视力丧失和失明的主要原因。虽然已证明住院患者的甘油三酯-葡萄糖（TyG）指数与DR之间的关系，但对于门诊2型糖尿病患者（T2DM）中TyG指数与DR的相关性研究仍然相对有限。

方法： 本研究纳入了合肥市第一人民医院在2012年至2017年间接受门诊体检的398名中老年人群中的2型糖尿病患者。根据扩瞳眼底检查结果，将这些患者分为非糖尿病视网膜病变组（NDR组，共296例）和糖尿病视网膜病变组（DR组，共102例）。通过单因素逻辑回归分析和多因素逻辑回归分析识别与T2DM患者发生糖尿病视网膜病变相关的危险因素。此外，通过分层回归并调整其他因素，以及受试者工作特征曲线（ROC）分析来评估TyG指数对中老年门诊T2DM患者的DR预测价值。

结果： 多元逻辑回归分析表明，TyG指数被识别为中老年人群2型糖尿病患者发生糖尿病视网膜病变的独立危险因素（P

结论： TyG指数是中老年门诊T2DM患者糖尿病视网膜病变（DR）的独立危险因素，并建议将其作为评估DR时参考指标之一。

关键词： 门诊患者；糖尿病视网膜病变；中老年人群；甘油三酯-葡萄糖指数；2型糖尿病。

Copyright © 2025 Yao and Liu.