Objective  To investigate the correlation between triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index and the risk of foot ulcer recurrence in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Methods  Clinical data of 617 diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) patients admitted to Zhu Xianyi Memorial Hospital of Tianjin Medical University from January 2020 to December 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. Clinical data of eligible patients were extracted retrospectively from the electronic medical system. To evaluate the association between TyG and DFU recurrence, four multivariate regression models were constructed. After stratification based on covariates such as gender and age, their interaction with TyG was also analyzed.

Results  In the unadjusted model, compared with TyG index tertiles 1 (T1) as a reference, tertiles 3 (T3) was associated with the recurrence of DFU (OR = 3.272, 95%CI: 2.001, 5.351, P ＜ 0.001). In addition, this association still existed in the fully-adjusted model (OR = 3.697, 95% CI: 2.099, 6.511, P ＜ 0.001). Subgroup and interaction analysis results showed that there was interaction between ulcer site, antiplatelet drug use, body mass index (BMI) and TyG index, and DFU recurrence. More significant effects were found in men, ≥65 years of age, smoking, diabetes mellitus with a course of ≥20 years, ulcers in the plantar region, foot deformities, no use of statins, use of antiplatelet drugs, systolic blood pressure ＜ 140 mmHg, and BMI ≥ 24 kg/m².

Conclusion  A high TyG index is independently associated with the recurrence of DFU in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. TyG index can serve as an effective tool for assessing the risk of DFU recurrence.