Triglyceride to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio in adolescence as a predictive marker of metabolic syndrome and obesity in early adulthood in China

Objective To explore serum triglyceride (TG) to high-density cholesterol (HDL-C) ratio as a diagnostic marker of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in adolescents and its efficacy in predicting MetS and obesity in the early adulthood. Methods A stratified cluster random sampling method was used to select a total of 935 subjects from senior and junior high schools in Liaoyang, northeast China. The subjects were physically examined and laboratory evaluation was performed. A follow-up examination was performed after 5 years on some ( n = 93) of the subjects who had reached adulthood. Results TG/HDL-C had significantly high diagnostic accuracy for MetS than HOMA-IR, TG or HDL-C. Subjects with the highest TG/HDL-C at baseline had higher risk of MetS (odds ratio [OR] = 11.65) and obesity (OR = 4.32) in early adulthood. Conclusion TG/HDL-C ratio has a strong and independent ability in diagnosing MetS in adolescents and predicting the occurrence of MetS and obesity in their early adulthood.