AIP and the TyG index showed similar positive linear associations with incident cardiometabolic multimorbidity and comparable modest predictive performance beyond conventional lipid markers in older adults.
Higher atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) was significantly associated with increased odds of incident cardiometabolic multimorbidity (CMM) in older adults.
Higher triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index was significantly associated with increased odds of incident cardiometabolic multimorbidity, with a magnitude similar to AIP.
Incorporation of AIP into a conventional risk model resulted in only modest improvement in discrimination for predicting CMM.
Both AIP and TyG index showed similar positive linear associations with incident cardiometabolic multimorbidity.
The study population consisted of 2261 older adults from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) who were free of cardiometabolic disease at baseline.
This research suggests that two blood-based markers — the atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) and the triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index — are both linked to a higher risk of developing multiple cardiometabolic diseases (such as high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, or stroke) simultaneously in older adults. The study followed over 2,200 English adults with an average age of 63 for up to 15 years, and found that people with the highest levels of either marker were roughly twice as likely to develop two or more of these conditions compared to those with the lowest levels. Importantly, both markers performed similarly to each other, suggesting neither is clearly superior for identifying at-risk individuals. However, when either marker was added to existing conventional risk prediction models, the improvement in the ability to predict who would go on to develop multiple cardiometabolic conditions was only modest. This means that while both AIP and TyG index are meaningfully associated with cardiometabolic risk, they may not dramatically change how well clinicians can predict disease compared to tools already in use. This research suggests these markers could serve as supplementary tools in assessing cardiometabolic risk in older adults, but further research may be needed to determine how best to integrate them into clinical practice.
Kunutsor S, Jae S, Laukkanen J. (2026). Beyond conventional lipid markers: Atherogenic index of plasma and triglyceride-glucose index in relation to cardiometabolic multimorbidity in older adults.. Primary care diabetes. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcd.2026.08.007