Does the association of the triglyceride to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio with fasting serum insulin differ by race/ethnicity?

Table 3 Prevalence, prevalence ratios, and 95% confidence intervals of hyperinsulinemia for the two TG/HDL-C ratio cutoff points by race and BMI categories, NHANES 1999–2002

	Cutoff point of 3.5 for the TG/HDL-C ratio					New cutoff point* for the TG/HDL-C ratio
Characteristic	Prevalence, %		Prevalence ratio (≥ 3.5 vs. <3.5)			Prevalence, %		Prevalence ratio (≥ cutoff vs. <cutoff)
Characteristic	<3.5	≥ 3.5	PR	95% CI	<cutoff	≥ cutoff	PR	95% CI
Total	15.65	48.07	2.16	1.74	2.08	12.95	44.71	2.23	1.83	2.72
Race
Non-Hispanic White	13.0	45.6	2.3	1.7	3.1	11.3	41.9	2.3	1.8	3.0
Non-Hispanic Black	26.8	67.6	1.9	1.5	2.5	18.8	56.4	2.1	1.5	2.9
Mexican American	26.4	61.7	1.8	1.5	2.2	23.7	59.4	2.0	1.6	2.5
Interaction between race and TG/HDL-C ratio			χ² (2) = 5.05, P = 0.08					χ² (2) = 2.37, P = 0.31
BMI, kg/m²
< 25	3.4	14.3	3.3	1.4	7.4	2.8	13.7	3.8	1.6	8.8
25 to 29	13.3	38.2	2.9	2.0	4.2	10.5	35.8	3.4	2.4	5.0
≥ 30	46.1	71.4	1.5	1.3	1.8	43.6	68.0	1.5	1.3	1.7
Interaction between BMI and TG/HDL-C ratio			χ² (2) = 19.89, P < 0.0001					χ² (2) = 38.27, P < 0.0001

* The new cutoff point of TG/HDL-C ratio is 3.0 in mg/dL unit (1.2 in mmol/L unit) for non-Hispanic whites and Mexican Americans and 2.0 in mg/dL unit (0.9 in mmol/L unit) for non-Hispanic blacks.

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