What This Means
This study looked at whether a simple blood-test-based score, the CHG index (which combines cholesterol, HDL "good" cholesterol, and blood glucose), is linked to having several heart and metabolic diseases at once. The researchers defined this "cardiometabolic multimorbidity" as having at least two of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. They analyzed 5,544 hospital patients in Xinjiang and 11,221 community-dwelling older adults from a national Chinese survey (CHARLS).
In both groups, people with higher CHG scores were more likely to have multiple of these conditions. Each standard-deviation increase in CHG was linked to about twice the odds in the hospital group and about four times the odds in the community group, after accounting for other factors. The relationship was J-shaped, meaning the odds rose more steeply at higher CHG levels. Adding CHG to a basic model modestly improved its ability to tell who had multiple conditions. No differences between subgroups held up after statistical correction for multiple comparisons.
This research suggests CHG, calculated from routine lab tests, could be a convenient marker of cardiometabolic disease burden. However, because the study is cross-sectional, it shows association at one point in time and cannot show that a high CHG causes these conditions or predicts who will develop them. Findings come from middle-aged and older Chinese adults and may not apply elsewhere.