• E S Tull.
• Department of Epidemiology, 5th Floor, Graduate School of Public Health, 130 DeSoto Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261-3100, USA. est@pitt.edu
• W Indian Med J. 2013 Feb 1; 62 (2): 109-13.

ObjectiveThe objective of this research was to determine if the triglyceride (TG) to high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (TG/HDL) ratio has similar utility for discriminating insulin resistance in Caribbean-born black persons with and without Hispanic ethnicity.MethodsSerum lipids, glucose and insulin were determined and compared for 144 Hispanic blacks and 655 non-Hispanic blacks living in the US Virgin Islands. Area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUROC) curve statistics were used to evaluate the ability of the TG/HDL ratio to discriminate insulin resistance in the two ethnic groups.ResultsHispanic blacks had significantly higher levels of triglycerides and insulin resistance and a lower level of HDL cholesterol than non-Hispanic blacks. The AUROC curve for the ability of the TG/HDL to discriminate insulin resistance was 0.71 (95% CI = 0.62, 0.79) for Hispanic blacks and 0.64 (95% CI = 0.59, 0.69) for non-Hispanic blacks.ConclusionsAmong Caribbean-born black persons living in the US Virgin Islands, the TG/HDL ratio is a useful screening measure for discriminating insulin resistance in those with Hispanic ethnicity but not in those without Hispanic ethnicity.

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