In people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), identifying patients with established complications remains central to risk assessment. A retrospective cohort study published in Medicine evaluated whether the triglyceride-to-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (TG/HDL-C), triglyceride-glucose index (TGI), and pan-immune-inflammation value (PIV) were associated with the presence of diabetic complications.

The analysis included 450 patients diagnosed with T2DM between October 2023 and April 2025 at the Department of Internal Medicine, Gaziantep City Training and Research Hospital. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory parameters were collected. TG/HDL-C, TGI, and PIV were calculated using standard formulas. Participants were categorized according to the presence or absence of diabetic complications. Comparative analyses, correlation testing, logistic regression, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were performed.

Diabetic complications were present in 63.3% of patients. Individuals with complications had higher mean TG/HDL-C (5.24 ± 1.57 vs 4.31 ± 1.21; P<.001), TGI (9.16 ± 0.53 vs 8.68 ± 0.49; P<.001), and PIV (471.2 vs 351.4; P<.001) compared with those without complications. TGI (R=0.68), PIV (R=0.65), and TG/HDL-C (R=0.62) showed statistically significant moderate to strong correlations with the presence of complications.

In logistic regression analysis, TGI (odds ratio [OR] 2.12), PIV (OR 1.94), and TG/HDL-C (OR 1.83) remained independently associated with complications (all P<.001). ROC analysis showed area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.813 for TGI, 0.794 for PIV, and 0.782 for TG/HDL-C. A combined model integrating all three indices yielded an AUC of 0.846.

These findings indicate that TGI, TG/HDL-C ratio, and PIV were associated with the presence of diabetic complications in this cohort and demonstrated diagnostic performance individually and in combination.