Prevalence of insulin resistance and identifying HOMA1-IR and HOMA2-IR indexes in the Middle Black Sea region of Turkey

Background: Insulin resistance (IR) is one of the most important etiological risk factors in the development of diabetes. How- ever, there is no clear data regarding the prevalence of IR in the country. Objective: This study evaluates the prevalence of IR and identifies the optimal threshold values for the HOMA indexes in Turkey. Methods: This cross-sectional, population-based survey includes 2013 participants aged 20–84 years. The values of the anthro- pometric measurements and laboratory analysis were recorded. The 90th percentile in the non-obese and non-diabetic population was accepted as cut-off values for IR. Results: The optimal threshold values for IR were 2.46 in HOMA1-IR and 1.40 in HOMA2-IR. Using the HOMA2-IR method, the overall prevalence of IR was 33.2%. The IR prevalence was higher in women (35.6%) compared to men (30.1%) [p=0.008]. There was a higher IR prevalence in men living in urban areas (p=0.001), not in women. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that gender, serum glucose level, serum levels of triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, body- mass index and income status were associated with insulin resistance. Conclusion: The cut-off values of HOMA1-IR and HOMA2-IR were determined in this study and we believe that these find- ings will be helpful to clinicians in the fight against health problems such as diabetes. Keywords: Insulin resistance; HOMA; diabetes mellitus.