What This Means
This study looked at nearly 100,000 adults who had health check-ups at a hospital in Sichuan, China, between 2020 and 2024. The researchers examined an index called CHG, which combines cholesterol, HDL ("good") cholesterol, and blood glucose, and asked whether it relates to carotid atherosclerosis, the buildup of fatty deposits or thickening in the neck arteries that supply the brain. More than half of the participants (57,297 of 99,855) had carotid atherosclerosis.
People with higher CHG values were more likely to have carotid atherosclerosis, thicker artery walls, and plaque in the carotid arteries. The link was stronger for plaque than for wall thickening. Risk rose step by step across CHG groups, and the pattern was not a straight line. The higher risk was seen in men and women and across different body weights, smoking habits, and drinking habits.
This research suggests that CHG, which can be calculated from routine blood tests, may be a useful marker of carotid artery disease risk. However, the study was cross-sectional, meaning it captured one point in time, so it cannot show that a high CHG causes atherosclerosis. It was also done at a single hospital health center, so the findings may not apply to all populations. Longer-term studies would be needed to confirm these results.