Department of Occupational Health and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China.
Beijing Key Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology, School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China.
Environ Sci Process Impacts. 2024 Feb 21;26(2):334-343. doi: 10.1039/d3em00491k.
Insulin resistance is closely related to many metabolic diseases and has become a serious public health problem worldwide. So, it is crucial to find its environmental pathogenic factors. Methyl -butyl ether (MTBE), a widely used unleaded gasoline additive, has been proven to affect glycolipid metabolism. However, results from population studies are lacking. For this purpose, the potential relationships between MTBE exposure and the triglyceride glucose (TyG) index, a useful surrogate marker of insulin resistance, were evaluated using a small-scale occupational population. In this study, 201 participants including occupational and non-occupational MTBE exposure workers were recruited from the Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Hospital of Huaibei, and their health examination information and blood samples with informed consent were collected. The internal exposure levels were assessed by detecting blood MTBE using solid-phase-micro-extraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Then the adjusted linear regression model was used to assess the relationship between MTBE exposure and fasting plasma glucose (FPG), or TyG index. Then, receiver-operating-characteristic (ROC) curves were performed to calculate the optimal cut-off points. Multivariable and hierarchical logistic regression models were used to analyze the impact of MTBE exposure on the risk of insulin resistance. Obvious correlations were observed between blood MTBE levels with TyG index ( = 0.016) and FPG ( = 0.001). Further analysis showed that using the mean of the TyG index (8.77) as a cutoff value had a good effect on reflecting the risk of insulin resistance. Multivariable logistic regression analysis also indicated that MTBE exposure was an independent risk factor for a high TyG index (OR = 1.088, = 0.038), which indicated that MTBE exposure might be a new environmental pathogenic factor leading to insulin resistance, and MTBE exposure might increase the risk of insulin resistance by independently elevating the TyG index in male gas station workers.
胰岛素抵抗与许多代谢性疾病密切相关，已成为全球严重的公共卫生问题。因此，寻找其环境致病因素至关重要。甲基叔丁基醚（MTBE）是一种广泛使用的无铅汽油添加剂，已被证明会影响糖脂代谢。然而，人群研究结果尚缺乏。为此，该研究采用小型职业人群，评估了 MTBE 暴露与三酰甘油葡萄糖（TyG）指数（胰岛素抵抗的有用替代标志物）之间的潜在关系。在这项研究中，从淮北职业病防治医院招募了包括职业和非职业 MTBE 暴露工人在内的 201 名参与者，并在知情同意的情况下收集了他们的健康检查信息和血液样本。采用固相微萃取气相色谱-质谱法检测血液 MTBE 来评估内暴露水平。然后，采用调整后的线性回归模型评估 MTBE 暴露与空腹血糖（FPG）或 TyG 指数之间的关系。然后，进行了受试者工作特征（ROC）曲线以计算最佳截断点。采用多变量和分层逻辑回归模型分析 MTBE 暴露对胰岛素抵抗风险的影响。血液 MTBE 水平与 TyG 指数（ = 0.016）和 FPG（ = 0.001）呈明显相关。进一步分析表明，以 TyG 指数的平均值（8.77）作为截断值，对于反映胰岛素抵抗的风险效果较好。多变量逻辑回归分析也表明，MTBE 暴露是 TyG 指数升高的独立危险因素（OR = 1.088， = 0.038），这表明 MTBE 暴露可能是导致胰岛素抵抗的新环境致病因素，并且 MTBE 暴露可能通过独立升高男性加油站工人的 TyG 指数来增加胰岛素抵抗的风险。
