Lipid accumulation product (LAP) index as a potential risk assessment for cardiovascular risk stratification among type II diabetes mellitus in a Ghanaian population: A cross-sectional study

The study determined the comparative usefulness of Lipid Accumulation Product (LAP) index, for identifying individuals at immediate risk of cardiovascular diseases in a Ghanaian population. A cross-sectional study that involved 324 T2DM patients attending the Eastern Regional Hospital, Koforidua, Ghana was selected using a simple random sampling method. Height, body weight, and waist circumference (WC) of all study participants were measured; Body Mass Index (BMI) was derived from the measurements of height and weight. Fasting blood samples were collected for lipids and glucose measurements. Lipid accumulation product index was estimated from waist circumference and plasma triglycerides concentration. Ten-year risk of general CVD morbidity was estimated using the Framingham risk estimation criteria. Mean age of the study participants was 57.2 (±7.2 SD). LAP index (z-scores) was significantly associated and predictive of Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) by IDF [OR = 11.91 (4.76–29.75), p-value <0.0001], MetS by WHO [OR = 2.19 (1.50–3.21), p-value <0.0001], coronary risk index [OR = 2.58 (1.79–3.70), p-value <0.0001], and high probability outcome of 10-year CVD events [OR = 1.97 (1.42–2.74), p-value = 0.001], independent of BMI and WC. The covariate-adjusted area under the curve (AUC) for LAP was excellent in predicting MetS defined by IDF (0.920). The adjusted AUC for LAP proved very good at predicting MetS defined by WHO criteria [0.811] and elevated probability outcome of 10-year CVD events (0.889). Findings from this study suggest that LAP index could be considered as a routine assessment tool in T2DM patients since it is a better predictor than the clustering of BMI and WC.