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. 2025 Mar 10:16:1533819.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1533819. eCollection 2025.

Association between triglyceride-glucose index and its combination with obesity indicators and depression: findings from NHANES 2005-2020

Hongli Sun  1 , Wei He  2 , Jingyu Bu  3 , Huifang Zhang  4 , Huimei Huang  5 , Kai Ma  4
Affiliations

Association between triglyceride-glucose index and its combination with obesity indicators and depression: findings from NHANES 2005-2020

Hongli Sun et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: The relationship between the triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index, its combination with obesity indicators, and depression remains understudied in the American population.

Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed data from 10,423 adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) conducted between 2005 and 2020. We employed multivariable logistic regression analysis, smoothing techniques, generalized additive models, stratified analyses, and sensitivity analyses to examine the relationship between TyG, its combination (TyG-WC, TyG-WHtR, TyG-BMI) with obesity indicators, and depression.

Results: The results indicate that the TyG index, TyG-WC, TyG-WHtR, TyG-BMI, and depression exhibited a significant statistical association with depressive symptoms (all P for trend < 0.001). Specifically, a one-unit increase in the TyG index correlated with a 37% increase in the risk of depressive symptoms (95% CI: 1.21-1.55), a one-unit increase in TyG-WC correlated with a 3.26 times increase in the risk of depressive symptoms (95% CI: 2.22-4.80), a one-unit increase in TyG-WHtR correlated with a 27% increase in the risk of depressive symptoms (95% CI: 1.18-1.36), and a one-unit increase in TyG-BMI correlated with a 2.30 times increase in the risk of depressive symptoms (95% CI: 1.72-3.08). There was a significant nonlinear correlation between TyG-WC, TyG-WHtR, and TyG-BMI with depressive symptoms (all P for nonlinearity < 0.001), except for a linear correlation between the TyG index and depressive symptoms (P for linearity < 0.001).

Conclusion: Monitoring the TyG index, TyG-WC, TyG-WHtR, TyG-BMI may facilitate depression risk assessment and prevention.

Keywords: depression; triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index; triglyceride-glucose-body mass index (TyG-BMI); triglyceride-glucose-waist circumference (TyG-WC); triglyceride-glucose-waist height ratio (TyG-WHtR).

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart depicting the participants’ selection. TyG, Triglyceride-glucose index; TyG-WC, Triglyceride-glucose-waist circumference; TyG-WHtR, Triglyceride-glucose-waist height ratio; TyG-BMI, Triglyceride-glucose-body mass index.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The non-linear relationship between TyG index and its combination with obesity indicators and depressive symptoms. A non-linear relationship between them was identified after adjusting for survey year; age; gender; race; education level; family pir; marital status; smoke; alcohol drinking; diabetes. The solid red line represents the smooth curve fit between variables. Blue bands represent the 95% of confidence interval from the fit. (A) TyG, Triglyceride-glucose index; (B) TyG-WC, Triglyceride-glucose-waist circumference; (C) TyG-WHtR, Triglyceride-glucose-waist height ratio; (D) TyG-BMI, Triglyceride-glucose-body mass index.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Subgroup analysis of TyG index and its combination with obesity indicators and depression in US adults 18–85 years, NHANES 2005–2020. TyG, Triglyceride-glucose index; TyG-WC, Triglyceride-glucose-waist circumference; TyG-WHtR, Triglyceride-glucose-waist height ratio; TyG-BMI, Triglyceride-glucose-body mass index.
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