Current evidence remains inconsistent with regard to the association between different triglyceridemic-waist phenotypes and the risks for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We aimed to investigate this association among a retrospective cohort analysis of 6918 participants aged ≥ 45 years in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Participants were categorized into four triglyceridemic-waist phenotypes consisting of NWNT (normal waist circumference and normal triglycerides), NWHT (normal waist circumference and high triglycerides), EWNT (enlarged waist circumference and normal triglycerides), and EWHT (enlarged waist circumference and high triglycerides) based on participants' baseline information. Multivariate log-binomial regression was used to assess the T2DM risk in different phenotypes. Subgroup analysis was conducted to test the robustness of the findings. After 4-years of follow-up, participants with EWHT (Relative Risk [RR]: 1.909, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.499 to 2.447) or EWNT (RR: 1.580, 95%CI: 1.265 to 1.972) phenotypes had significantly higher likelihood of incident T2DM compared to the NWNT phenotype, whereas the association was not significant for the NWHT phenotype (RR: 1.063, 95%CI: 0.793 to 1.425). The subgroup analyses generally revealed similar associations across all subgroups. Among middle-aged and older adults, we suggested a combined use of waist circumference and triglycerides measures in identifying participants who are at high risk of developing T2DM.
Keywords: Chinese adults; central obesity; hypertriglyceridemia; type 2 diabetes mellitus.