AIM: To investigate the validity of triglyceride glucose(TyG)index to identily diabetic retinopathy(DR)in type 2 diabetic patients.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study. A total of 1061 type 2 diabetic patients in Shanghai who underwent health checkup in our hospital in 2021, all the subjects underwent questionnaire survey, physical examination, blood biochemical index detection and fundus examination. According to the fundus photos, they were divided into DR group(275 cases)and no DR group(786 cases). Risk factors for DR were evaluated by univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analyses, receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was used to analyse the predicted values of TyG with DR.

RESULT: Elevated TyG index was an high risk factor for development of DR in type 2 diabetic patients. After adjusting for multiple confounding factors(gender, age, smoking history, the course of diabetes, glycosylated hemoglobin, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, body mass index and serum uric), the OR value of the DR in the TyG index Q4 group relative to the Q1 group was 2.57(95%CI: 1.56-4.05), P<0.001. ROC curve analysis: the optimal cutoff value of TyG index was 6.1762, with a sensitivity of 66.92% and a specificity 63.27%, the AUC was 0.6952 and 95%CI was 0.6575-0.7329.TyG index had better predictive abilities than fasting blood glucose(AUC=0.6697), glycosylated hemoglobin(AUC=0.6864)and triglycerides(AUC=0.6521).

CONCLUSION: The TyG index correlates well with the onset risk of DR and potentially is a useful predictive factors, especially in the early stages of DR in patients with type 2 diabetes.