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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Systems Endocrinology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1591241
This article is part of the Research Topic Research in Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, and Metabolic Syndrome: Cellular Pathways and Therapeutic Innovations View all 3 articles
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Objective: Triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), and their ratio (TG/HDL-c) are key lipid markers associated with metabolic dysfunction.This study aims to investigate the association of TG, HDL-c, and TG/HDL-c ratio with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and to assess whether TG/HDL-c ratio provides superior predictive ability for MASLD compared to TG or HDL-c alone.Importance: Although previous research has explored the relationship between TG/HDL-c and MASLD, the applicability of these findings across different ethnicities and populations remains uncertain. Additionally, this study is based on NHANES data, which relies on self-reported measures and lacks longitudinal follow-up, limiting the ability to establish causal relationships. While we adjusted for multiple covariates, residual confounding cannot be ruled out. Therefore, further large-scale, prospective studies are needed to validate these associations and assess the long-term predictive value of TG/HDL-c ratio for MASLD.A cross-sectional study utilizing the NHANES 2017-2020 database was conducted. We performed univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses to examine the associations between TG, HDL-c, and the TG/HDL-c ratio with MASLD.Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to evaluate the predictive effectiveness. Sensitivity analysis was carried out using multiple imputation for missing data and subgroup stratification to validate the findings.Results: TG, HDL-c, and TG/HDL-c ratio were significantly associated with MASLD (p < 0.05 for all). The TG/HDL-c ratio demonstrated the highest predictive value (AUC = 0.732, 95% CI: 0.683-0.781), compared to TG (AUC = 0.713, 95% CI: 0.664-0.762) and HDL-c (AUC = 0.313, 95% CI: 0.264-0.362). The weak predictive power of HDL-c alone may be attributed to its complex role in lipid metabolism and potential confounding by other metabolic factors.Maintaining favorable levels of TG, HDL-c and TG/HDL-c ratio may lower MASLD risk. Using TG/HDL-c ratio could improve prediction models compared to individual TG or HDL-c markers.
Keywords: Triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Cross-sectional study, ROC Curve
Received: 10 Mar 2025; Accepted: 27 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yuan, He, Lu, Pu, Liu, Zhang, Liao, Li, Luo and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jin Yuan, Pu'er Traditional Chinese Medical Hospital, Yunnan, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
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