The Correlation between Insulin Resistance Indexes and Single-Measurement Low Total Testosterone in Korean Male...

This study aimed to determine which insulin resistance (IR) marker served as the strongest predictor of single-measurement low total testosterone (SLTT) in a Korean male population.

A dataset of male participants who underwent health checkups at a university hospital in Seoul, South Korea, between 2010 and 2020 was collated. The preliminary health screening included the following elements: age, medical history, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure measurements, basic blood chemistry, lipid profile analyses, and hemoglobin A1c level. This study aimed to compare the correlation between SLTT and IR markers. Three IR markers (triglyceride-glucose index [TyG], TyG-BMI, triglyceride-to-high-density lipoprotein ratio [TG/HDL]) were evaluated in this study.

Among 3,225 patients, 734 (22.7%) were identified as having SLTT. Moreover, SLTT was correlated with TyG, TyG-BMI, and TG/HDL cholesterol ratio. Participants were divided into four groups based on the IR marker quartiles. For TyG-BMI and TG/HDL, the odds ratios for the third and fourth quartile groups were significantly different from those for the first quartile group after full adjustment. The cut-off values of TyG, TyG-BMI, and TG/HDL cholesterol for SLTT were 8.64, 217.79, and 2.45, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was greatest for TyG-BMI, followed by TG/HDL and TyG.

Our findings demonstrated significant associations between TyG, TyG-BMI, TG/HDL index, and SLTT in the Korean male population. In addition, TyG-BMI demonstrated superior predictive capability for identifying SLTT compared with TyG and TG/HDL.