Value of C-Reactive Protein-Triglyceride Glucose Index in Predicting Cancer Mortality in the General Population: Results from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Abstract

Background Cancer is one of the leading causes of death. The current work aims to investigate the association between C-reactive protein-triglyceride glucose index (CTI) and the risk of incident cancer mortality and to evaluate the usefulness of CTI to refine the risk stratification of cancer mortality. Methods The study enrolled 19,957 subjects from American National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. CTI was defined as 0.412*Ln(CRP) + ln[T.G. (mg/dL) × FPG (mg/dL)/2]. Cox regression was performed to investigate the association. Results During a follow-up of 215417.52 person-years, 736 subjects died due to malignant tumors, and the incidence of cancer mortality was 3.42 per 1,000 person-years. Kaplan–Meier curve revealed that the fourth quartile group had the lowest cancer mortality-free rate (Log-Rank p < 0.001). After full adjustment, each SD increase of CTI cast a 32.7% additional risk of incident cancer mortality. Furthermore, cancer mortality risk elevated proportionally with the increase of CTI. Finally, ROC and reclassification analyses supported the usefulness of CTI in improving the risk stratification of incident cancer mortality. Conclusion The study revealed a significant association between CTI and cancer mortality risk, suggesting the value of CTI in improving the risk stratification of incident cancer mortality. KEY MESAGES C-reactive protein-triglyceride glucose index (CTI) is positively associated with cancer mortality risk in the general population. The association was linear in the whole range of CTI. CTI could improve the risk prediction of cancer mortality in the general population.